


Teen Beasts

by High_Serpent_King



Series: Teen Wolves [7]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beast Stiles Stilinski, Chimeras, Could be done for good, Eichen House, F/M, Hellhound Jordan Parrish, Love Triangle, M/M, Pack Dynamics, Pack Symbols, Pain, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Scott messes up, Senior year, Shapeshifting, Slow Burn, Stiles & Cora's son, Stiles is on his own, Stiles makes a new friend, Stiles' blue eyes, Tarot, The Beast of Gevaudan, The Dread Doctors, WereCoyote, Werewolf Bonds, Werewolf Stiles Stilinski, broken trust, but he starts to learn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2019-09-19 23:02:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 126,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17010846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/High_Serpent_King/pseuds/High_Serpent_King
Summary: Senior Year is here and Stiles fears that he'll lose his friends after graduation. Suddenly, Theo Raeken, a guy from his and Scott's past and now a werewolf, arrives claiming to look for a pack. Scott quickly welcomes him but Stiles instantly feels something off. Slowly, Theo manipulates the pack, driving an already present wedge between Scott and Stiles even deeper, as well as trying to claim Malia for himself. On top of that, 3 figures known as the Dread Doctors arrive and start turning people into monsters unlike any they've faced before. In the midst of all that Stiles' fears are realized when Scott makes a decision that changes everything between them forever.





	1. Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Linkin Park ~ Numb
> 
> This song helps to set the tone for the developing feelings we've seen with Stiles.

This is not the first chapter but more a preface and summary of what's to come. The first official chapter will be posted on December 21, both the longest night of the year which just happens to be roughly the full moon this year. The perfect setting for this story I believe.

Since this season's story was so large that it took two parts to tell it, this story will be also split into two parts. Emotionally, the first part was where everything fell apart for the pack and the second part was everyone handling the aftermath. All on top of the enemies that they were facing. Yet, the ending won't be as neat and simple for everyone. If you've been reading my new Bestiary set, you might have an idea what is to come, especially for our wolfy brothers Scott and Stiles.

Also, we will see a side adventure for Derek, Cora and her new son Jason. Danger looms for them as they deal with the Alpha Oscar and his growing appetite for power. As he begins to try building his pack's power, his gaze begins to loom on the Hales. In the process of trying to protect themselves and baby Jason, Derek and Cora start to unravel more about Deucalion's past ambitions and find that it has ties to their father's death.

There will be characters we all know and some new original ones that we haven't seen yet or have already caught glimpses of before.

**Roshon Fegan as Virgil Edelman**

****

_The former "bad boy criminal" and street gang guy of Beacon Hills High that everyone avoided because of rumors surrounding his past when he moved there over two years previously. Now graduated and alone, he finds himself feeling stuck in a dead end rut as a mechanic in a garage run by a jerk, in this small town that he feels he's stuck in for the rest of his life.  However, he has more depth than he would admit as well as some other hidden talent he himself isn't aware. And fate might come to see it either destroyed or realized one fateful full moon._

**Jamie Dornan as Oscar**

****

_The Alpha of the 'Pawshroud' Pack. Oscar has worked on establishing his position as the strongest and fiercest Alpha in the northeastern United States. Yet, he has started to have thoughts about extending that power to cover a much wider range. Oscar has begun to swell his pack starting with turning strong people, ones he sees built for war. He seeks to now have dominion over the whole eastern seaboard, and perhaps even be the reigning werewolf in the country. He feels that Cora Hale and her son may be the key to having all the power he needs to make that a reality and he won't let anything or anyone stop him. At first, his ambition could be chalked up to greed and lust for power but there might be a deeper meaning behind his desire._  

**Ryan Guzman as Charlie Harris**

****

_Charlie is the among the newest people bitten by Oscar and inducted into his pack in his efforts to bolster its numbers. He is adjusting to this new change in his life though he is not too fond with his new Alpha and his tactics. As Charlie was in the army, he is used to dealing with hard asses. He is preparing for what Oscar says are hard times ahead and is ready for the war he predicts is going to be upon them all and he is resolved to help protect his new comrades and pack like a good soldier should. Yet, when Oscar starts to steer the pack in a shady direction, he wonders if he is going to be on the right side of this oncoming war._

**Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Wilson Grant**

****

_He serves as the Second of Satomi's pack and works as a security officer over at Devonford Preparatory. Wilson was the first one to be bitten and turned by Satomi after she turned to Buddhism._ _He is trusted and has the full respect from the members of his pack as well as both Stiles and Liam._ _While he believes in peace, he doesn't support pacifism as he is of the opinion that preaching for and making peace is useless unless you have the ability and resolve to keep it; especially given the events of the Deadpool. Loyal to Satomi, his pack, and fond of the ones who helped save them, he will do whatever it takes when trouble begins to brew for them all._

I hope you will like the story I have planned and I can't wait to hear your thoughts about what you hope to see and your predictions.


	2. Summer's End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The summer is coming to a close and people all over Beacon Hills think on what's happened and what is to come.

The town of Beacon Hills was enjoying a steady time of peace. Ever since it's resident pack of teenage werewolves, kitsune, werecoyote and banshee had conquered the Deadpool; along with defeating both Peter Hale and Kate Argent before having them sent to be locked up at Eichen House. Things in Beacon Hills had settled down into what could actually be considered 'normal'. The remaining few months of the school year had been without conflict or danger, at least of the life-threatening variety, but the typical teenage variety. Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Malia and Kira were able to finish their junior year, and Liam his freshman year, without anything more coming for them. When the summer started, that peace seemed to extend and everyone was ready to enjoy their last summer before their senior year started.

* * *

The woods were quiet, save for the four people running through them with breakneck speed. [Liam was running](https://media.giphy.com/media/WzhzhN2rMUgIU/giphy.gif) with his former nemesis Brett Talbot, his sister Lori and with one of the security guards Liam remembered seeing patrol the halls of Devonford Prep, Wilson Grant. It turned out that the man was not only a werewolf but Satomi's Second. Grant was taking them to a pool party someone Liam knew back at Devonford had invited Brett and Lori to have some fun before school started back up tomorrow. They were able to bring friends and Lori had invited Liam and said he could bring Mason too if he wanted.

But Mr. Grant took a detour and stopped them out by the woods. He then told them to follow him before he started running off. The three young teenage werewolves didn't spare another moment as they ran off after him. Brett and Liam seemed to turn it into some kind of race, each one trying to keep ahead of the other. They kept it up the whole time before Wilson stopped them when they reached a stone outcropping. He then left them to look around.

"You actually kept up," Brett said as he folded his arms and smirked down at Liam.

"Yeah. Did you think I'd let you leave me in your dust?"

Brett shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time," he said in an undertone but he made sure it was still loud enough for Liam to hear him perfectly.

That made Liam glare at him slightly and starting stomping for him but Lori moved to stand in between them.

"Guys," she said out in a warning kind of tone. "C'mon, play nice. We're all friends now." Liam and Brett gave her a look. "Whether you like it or not."

"Yeah, I'll go with not," Brett mumbled.

Liam snorted. "I'll second that."

A few months ago, Liam and Brett wouldn't have gone over a minute without moving to tear each other to pieces. But, with all that mess with the Deadpool, their packs had started working together and formed an alliance so they began seeing a lot more of each other. Even more so when Stiles started to take Satomi as a sort of werewolf tutor. He often had Liam tag along to try and help him learn better control now that he'd taken Satomi's Buddhist chant as one of his anchors. He would have friendly spars with some members of her pack though had to be pulled away a few times as his anger got the better of him, especially when matched up with Brett. Over the last few months, Liam and Brett gained a grudging respect for each other, but they would deny they did let alone call each other friends.

Lori rolled her eyes. "Fine, keep denying it if you two lunkheads want.  _Boys_ ," she sighed to herself.

Liam let himself rest against a tree as he saw the man walking about the area, seemingly sniffing and feeling around. "How long is this going to take? I don't want to be too late. I can't stay there long."

"Why?" Lori asked him.

"Scott and Stiles want me to stay with them tonight so they could babysit me for the full moon." He folded his arms, feeling a bit annoyed.

She narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What? I thought you said last month that Scott gave you the okay for you to handle the night on your own. Without them having to restrain or watch you."

"Uh, yeah, there was kind of a…thing that happened during that night." His cheeks started to redden a bit.

"What? What happened to you?" she asked in concern.

Lori developed kind of soft spot for Liam. After he helped to save them all from the Deadpool by shutting it down, he became their hero. And…she couldn't help but think he was kind of cute.

"I don't want to talk about it," Liam said, turning away as his cheeks got even redder. It was bad enough that Scott, Stiles and the Sheriff knew. The last thing he wanted was for Brett to hear he prowled around town naked and have something new to lord over him. And he would be humiliated if Lori, a girl, found out. "Now, they don't trust me on my own again."

"And here we all thought your control was improving," Brett said, with a smirk.

"I just had an off night," Liam muttered with a bit of a bitter tone. He rose his head to look at Mr. Grant still checking out the ground around the small rock formation. "How long is Mr. Grant going to take? Mason said he was going to meet us there and I don't want him to think I stood him up. Thanks for inviting him too by the way. Something to distract him from trying to talk more about the Berserker he saw at the school."

Brett sighed. "It shouldn't take Wilson more than another minute or two."

"Why are we even here for? What's he doing?"

"He's just checking on something for Satomi," Lori answered for him.

Liam's eyebrows rose in interest. "Out here? What is it?"

"Oh, it's one of the perimeter markings," said Brett. "Satomi set it up years ago to mark this land as her territory."

"Mark it? For who?"

"Other packs and lone wolves." Wilson Grant was calmly walking back to them. "It lets any newcomers know that this area is under her protection. So, if they are here to cause trouble, it warns them that they'll have to answer to her."

Liam looked at the stone landmark. "What? I mean, how does it even work Mr. Grant?"

Mr. Grant smiled at him. "Liam, I think after everything that's happened in the last few months you could call me Wilson. As for the perimeter, go, take a look for yourself Liam. You'll understand soon enough."

Liam walked over to where the stones were and looked at where he saw that something seemed to be carved into the rock. It looked like a circle that had been cut into eight pieces.

"What's this?" asked Liam. "It looks like a pizza."

Wilson snorted. "It's called the [Dharmachakra](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/f7c7ef82-9105-4b7c-b287-81d203efd285/dcuj8w0-1d717889-9ef8-4870-9022-bdc0ffb58640.jpg/v1/fill/w_894,h_894,q_70,strp/symbol_satomi_by_epreader_dcuj8w0-pre.jpg), or the Eight Spoke Wheel. It's a Buddhist sign," he explained to Liam. "Satomi took it for the symbol of her pack."

Liam then blinked as he detected something. A scent was in the air. He couldn't identify it but it made him feel a bit on edge, like he should be on guard and watch his step. "What is this?"

Wilson nodded. "You can feel it. Satomi left some of her Alpha chemo signature ingrained on it. Sort of like putting a Trespassers Beware of Dog sign on a fence." Will then shrugged as he chuckled to himself. "Which is kind of poetic if you think about it. It lets outside wolves know that an Alpha laid claim on this territory. They trespass at their own peril."

Liam felt a slight itch crawling up his skin. It made him want to turn around and get out of there. "Yeah, I think it works fine. So, what is it you're supposed to be checking?"

"If there were any new scents that passed through. The last thing we need is surprise and uninvited guests lurking about and trying to make trouble." He then shrugged. "But, I'm not picking up anything so we're done here. I'll tell Satomi after I finish dropping you three off."

The four of them then moved off to dash for the direction of where they had left the car. A minute after they left, the wind began to pick up. The stray leaves on the ground began to flap really hard into the air as the air crackled with sparks. Three pairs of dark rubber boots were stomping up to the marker. The next moment, the stone started cracking before abruptly exploding into hundreds of pieces. The three then walked off, the middle one stepping on a stone slab that contained the Buddhist wheel, and stepped off it to reveal it now broken.

* * *

A punching bag was being hit with quick and sure blows, a hard breath being hissed every strike. The one hitting it was a dark skinned young man and he was building both momentum and sweat as he assaulted the bag like it insulted him. Virgil Edelman. He then gave a shout as he slammed his whole forearm into the bag and leaned on it as he took large puffs and rested his sweaty brow against it. He slowly turned his head to gaze on a hung picture of himself standing with a man and an elderly woman. All three were smiling at the camera. He looked at it for a moment before he let out a heated sigh and hit the bag with one last fist, pushing himself away from it.

He went off to take a shower and was soon drying his hair after he finished putting on some pants along with a Beacon Hills High T-shirt on. Virgil may have graduated two months ago but he liked the look of the shirt, even if he hadn't liked his time at the school. He moved to go and pour himself some cereal as he went to turn on the TV to watch the weather. He saw that there was going to be some heavy rain late tonight. Luckily, he knew he would be home and wouldn't be caught out in it.

Then his phone rang and he moved to pick it up.

"Virgil here," he answered.

" _Hey Virge,_ " he heard his boss' voice say on the other end.

"Virgil," he quickly bit out. He didn't like anyone calling him that.

" _Right, Virgil. Well listen, I'm going to need you to cover into the late night shift tonight._ "

"Late night?"

" _Yeah, I'm sorry but I don't have anyone else._ "

"Okay," Virgil said slowly. "I could actually use some actual overtime for a change."

" _Uh, about that,_ " his boss' voice said hesitantly.

"Really? This is the third time. I thought you said you wouldn't keep asking me to work extended shifts without pay the last time."

The man let out a heated sigh. " _I know what I said Virgil, and I'm sorry. But the full moon's tonight and you've seen how this night's been lately. Accidents have spiked on this night over the last year and a half so this is an emergency. More yahoos are coming out and getting behind the wheel in this town and the garage could use the extra business._ "

Virgil clenched his fist at his side but ungripped it. "I'll be there." He barely managed to get that out with a straight voice.

" _Thanks Virgil. Look, I'll make it up to you. A full repair, free of charge. All on me. Cash it in anytime you want_."

"Yeah, I appreciate it." Vigil then ended the call and almost slammed the phone down. "Ass," he muttered and he moved to dig his face into the palms of his hands.

A part of him understood why his boss couldn't get more help. Ever since his last night mechanic was killed when a car impaled him, two of his other three mechanics had quit and moved to other places. When he had been looking for work during his senior year, he had been quickly hired as he hadn't been able to find anyone that was willing to work where one died so hideously. But ever since he graduated, his boss was now pushing the extra hours on him, knowing that Virgil couldn't just quit. Honestly, he didn't want to. Virgil actually liked working on cars and fixing them up. It was the people that tended to drive them that he had problems with.

He went to shut the television off as it got to talk of some road work that would sure to cause traffic to pile back into town later tonight. In the horizon there was a thick cloud cover that seemed to be heading for them and would be arriving soon. Perhaps tonight, as the news said.

"Stupid town," he muttered, before clicking the remote and making the screen go black.

Virgil had lived here for a little over two years now, since his father had moved them here so they could live with his grandmother. He loved them but he felt coming here was another step in the down spiral that was his life. Now, some days he felt he was doomed to just wallow here for the rest of his life. Then again, where could he go? It wasn't like there was anything else out there for him, or anyone.

His hand brushed up against a small ornate box next to it. His finger moved to trace over the patterns of a tree carved into it.

Virgil shrugged his shoulders. "It  _is_  a full moon…why the hell not," he sighed out.

Picking up the box, he moved over to the table and set it down. He pulled up his armchair and sat down before he went to remove the lid and reveal a pack of cards inside. He gazed at the symbol of a pentagram over a sun and moon was on the back of each one of them.

"Never got to use them without grandma here." After staring at them for a moment, his eyes drifted over to a picture of the old woman from before, his late grandmother. Her face smiling though her eyes seemed pointed at the same time. "Okay, just remember the rules," he said to himself as he gazed at the woman's smiling face. "Don't look directly at the cards as you shuffle and place them." He imagined hearing that woman's voice speaking with his own just now.

He took a deep breath and then brought them out. He kept his gaze forward as his hands moved to cut and shuffle them on the table's surface. When the deck was fully shuffled, he looked back at the woman's picture again.

"Right grandma?" Hearing her voice, he lightly mumbled the next set of rules he remembered hearing like it was yesterday. "No financial or personal gain and be prepared for any kind of answer, good or bad." He then cleared his throat and took a deep breath. Then he began to speak clearly. "With summer ending, how are things going to shape up around here?" It was his first time not having go back to school now as his academic life ended with high school.

A small breeze began to flow through the open window making him flinch a bit as he rubbed at some goosebumps that formed on this forearm. He then moved to draw the first card on the top of the deck and placed it face down on the table directly in front of him. After a moment, he then flipped and revealed it.

His eyes widened. "Huh," he said a little surprised. The card depicted a giant golden wheel etched with runes that was surrounded by three beings, but the card was upside down. "[The Wheel of Fortune…reversed](https://66.media.tumblr.com/3ee0861277f811c76a7acd369bcf9a32/tumblr_pjtd4dE6y61vsvti5o1_400.jpg)." The meanings of the Wheel of Fortune card in this position started to come back to him from lessons that came from what felt a lifetime ago. "Something's going to happen, or maybe it's already started. It's something big. And something bad," he muttered.

There was flickering from the light of a nearby lamp for a moment as the light dimmed out.

"Bad changes, havoc incoming and resisting the inevitable," Virgil listed before sighing to himself. "That doesn't tell me much. Wait…I asked how things are going to shape up around here." He then slumped back into his armchair and let his thumbs press against his eyelids. "Maybe that was too broad. Wasted my one personal question for the month. Still, I wish I knew what all this was about and who. I know it can't be about me." He then shook his head. "Ah, this is silly anyways."

He then moved to put the tarot card he drew back in the deck and pack them up. Yet, the blown lamp suddenly sent out a spark which startled him. His fingers fumbled and two cards fell from the bottom of the deck and landed out on the floor. Virgil ran over to pull the plug out to make sure that a fire didn't start. He then moved to put the tarot cards back but noticed the two dropped cards. He reached down to pick them up but noticed how they had fallen. They were side by side and they were revealed to him. One was depicting a jester wearing a vacant expression walking towards an edge, but the card was upside down. The other was of a cloaked wizard in front of a table of tools holding a wand under an infinity sign.

He picked up the cards, one in each hand to look at them, his eyes somewhat far off. "[The Fool, reversed](https://66.media.tumblr.com/599fe019a8be3f794c084175403b55d0/tumblr_pjtcz3e8Wn1vsvti5o1_500.jpg). And [the Magician](https://pm1.narvii.com/6436/0af29ff0b02162af52dce4a7d38739464f912819_hq.jpg)." He blinked his eyes at them. "I swear I've seen two together like this before."

His watch then started to beep to signal the new hour and he shook himself out of it. He moved to go and change before grabbing his bike helmet.

* * *

A grand house stood close to the treeline that led right into the Beacon County Preserve and forest. In that house was a young man sitting across a much older woman in one of its grand rooms next to an open patio door that gave them a good view of that forest's tree line.

Stiles moved the cup of hot tea to his lips and took a quick sip before he turned his attention back to the game board in front of him. He thought for a moment before he went and moved to place his black stone. He then took a white stone and placed it to the side.

Satomi nodded at the board. "Good move. You're a much better player than I had anticipated."

"Thanks." Stiles moved to lean back into his chair. "I guess my time with that demented fox in my head was good for something."

They were sitting in the study of Satomi's home. The glass patio door nearby was wide open and a nice breeze was flowing in with the gentle smell of the nearby trees and moisture from the predicted storm front for later that night.

The Alpha smiled gently at him. "I must say Stiles, I didn't think that we would spend your visit playing Go in my study. Not that I'm complaining. I don't get to play Go as often as I would like. But, I would've expected that you would've wanted to do something more productive since it's your last day of summer. Brett, Lori and my other young betas are all out having fun and enjoying their final day of freedom from homework and tests. You want to spend your last day playing with an old woman."

Stiles rose his eyebrow at her. "You're not that old Satomi."

"I'm 97 years old," she said, in a blunt tone.

He blinked a bit. "Uh...well you don't look a day over 50 to me." His cheeks went a little pink. Satomi lightly chuckled at him. "And, you kick some hard butt for someone shy of a hundred. And then some," he said, subconsciously reaching to rub at his arm. "Can you blame me for forgetting your age." He tried to sound flattering though he sound pretty weak to his own ears.

"Thank you," Satomi said as she couldn't help but feel flattered.

After the mess in Mexico, Stiles decided that being closer and developing relations with some werewolves from a nearby pack might not be such a bad idea. Having allies had helped them all during the Deadpool and could only keep helping them in the long run. Satomi would be a strong ally, as would the members of her pack, and Stiles knew that they could be trusted. Especially now that Derek and Braeden had left Beacon Hills and after that whole thing with Peter, Stiles felt they would need allies like them.

So, Stiles had been taking to visiting Satomi then and again. Even more when summer started. He came, along with Liam. He felt that she could help Liam to learn some better control, now that her Buddhist motto was one of his anchors. Satomi had been honored to hear that and she was glad to help. She put Liam through some sparring drills against some of her betas to try and help him gain control while thick in the heat of stressful situations and reign his wolf in when control became fickle. Most of those times being when he went up against Brett. After a short while, she started inviting Stiles to participate. He sparred against some of her betas, including Brett, Wilson who was her Second, and even a few times against Satomi herself. How he fared against her pack varied, sometimes he would win and sometimes he would lose. But against Satomi and her matrix like moves, she always left him lying with aches that took a couple of hours to heal from.

Stiles leaned back into his chair. "I felt for my last day of summer, I should just relax. Nothing too crazy and just enjoy some friendly company. Though, when school starts up again, I don't think there will be as many visits. And I've liked coming here the last couple of weeks."

"It's not just you that enjoys your visits. Reminds me of old times with Talia and her family." She smiled at him. "Just know that you, Liam, and the rest of your friends are welcome here." She then moved to take a sip of her tea.

Stiles took a look at his slightly emptied cup. "I have to say though, I don't think I have much of a taste for Reshi tea. I think I'm more of a coffee person."

That made Satomi make a small face after she finished taking her sip. "I've never been very fond of coffee myself." She then set her cup down. "Still, if you wanted some friendly and relaxing company, why are you not hanging around with Scott today?"

Stiles sighed. "He had to go to the hospital today. It's his last day working his internship."

She nodded. "Yes. College would seem much more closer for those in their Senior Year. Speaking of, what do you have planned?"

"Well, I'm checking out schools like Berkeley and others in the general area. I'm looking into becoming a detective."

Stiles couldn't see himself being anything else. Kate Argent was now rotting away in that special wing in Eichen House and would be for a very  _long_  time and he had stopped her from getting away. He had helped lock her up, and it had felt good. He technically had caught and locked up his first real nut job. He couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and achievement at all of that and if that's what his dad felt like all the time then he could understand the pride and respect he had in his job.

Satomi could sense the underlying pride starting to sift out of him. "Oh I see, planning to go into law enforcement like your father? Yes, I see you having the right temperament for it. Sorting through clues and putting pieces together to complete the puzzle." Satomi leaned back a bit. "Do you mind me making a suggestion?" Stiles shook his head. "Look into taking some interest in Psychology as well. You can detect emotions but understanding how and why people have them and when, it could help in deducing motives and intentions which could only help in figuring and placing pieces of the puzzle."

"Oh...yeah, I'll think about taking a look."

Stiles then stopped talking as he suddenly turned to look out in the horizon, towards the woods. A sullen look came over his face.

"Something wrong?"

[Stiles absently rubbed spirals on the table as he stared off](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DamagedElementaryChameleon-size_restricted.gif). He kept looking out towards the trees as his eyes started to narrow a bit. His nerves were all lit up and he felt tense. Stiles felt like he was being watched.

"Stiles?"

The boy shook shook his head and looked over at Satomi as she was looking at him with concern.

"Sorry," he muttered.

Satomi looked off in the direction of the trees herself. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"No...nothing's wrong." He tried to wave it off. "It's my move, right?"

Stiles moved to place his next stone but his hand was grabbed mid-motion by Satomi and she was looking at him with a mad glint in her eye.

"Stiles, you know full well that I know you're lying. So please, don't insult my intelligence." The Alpha's tone was calm but stern and it made Stiles sigh as he dropped his stone back in his pot. "You're still feeling on edge, aren't you?"

Stiles nodded.

Almost two weeks into summer, Stiles' nerves began to feel on edge a good deal of the time. It felt as if danger was lurking nearby and would be coming for him, yet everything continued to remain quiet and peaceful all summer long. Still, he told everyone to be careful just the same. Scott said that they would always be careful but suggested that maybe Stiles was too used to being alert and suspicious to feel comfortable when things were quiet for too long. When he told Satomi of his feelings she assured him that she and her pack would keep their eyes open. She told him that she was making regular checks along the perimeter of her territory but Stiles felt she was really doing it just to humor him.

"I don't know why. I mean, I shouldn't, right?" he confessed. "These last few months, it's been quiet. Peaceful, no dead bodies just turning up and no psychos, natural or supernatural. We won State again, I aced all my finals and helped Malia to pass hers too. Then when summer came, it just kept going on. So...why do I feel like there's something wrong?"

"I think only you can answer that Stiles. Have you been getting enough sleep recently?" she asked, concerned.

"I never get enough sleep," Stiles huffed out.

After saying that, Satomi gave him a sad look but it vanished after a moment. She looked back to the trees. "What happened a moment ago."

He shook his head. "Uh, I just had a feeling...like it felt that I was being watched. I don't know, maybe I'm worrying over nothing."

"Maybe not," she muttered to herself.

But Stiles had heard it. "Huh?" he quickly asked her.

She then moved to raise her voice a bit. "Stiles, I can't say if you're right to worry or not. But, it's been my experience that in situations where nothing has happened, it doesn't necessarily mean nothing will happen. If you are feeling this strongly about it then it would do well to be aware of what is happening around you. But, be careful that you don't become obsessed with what that may or may not be. You will only drive yourself mad."

Stiles rolled his eyes out at her. "Yeah, I think many people would tell you that it might be a little too late for me there Satomi."

That made Satomi break into a small chuckle and even Stiles cracked a small amused smile.

"Speaking of late, I think its about time for you to leave or you will be."

Stiles checked his watch. "Yeah, you're right, I better get going. Thanks for the game, and the tea."

"Wait." Satomi then left the room for a moment and was soon walking back with a small jar of Reshi mushrooms. "Just in case," she said as she handed them over.

"Thank you," he said as he took her gift.

Stiles silently nodded to her and held his hand out to her. But except for shaking it like he expected, Satomi moved over and gave him a small hug. Stiles was surprised for a moment but relaxed into it a second before she let go. She watched as he made to leave with calculating eyes. She found that Stiles had a very strong sense of instinct, especially for danger, greater than she'd seen in most werewolves. She supposed as he once was meant to ascend and become a Beast, it shouldn't be that surprising. If his sense of danger was steadily growing, and he feels like he is being watched, then perhaps she wasn't the only one that was observing him. Someone that might've been doing so discreetly enough to not raise any alarms. Not with her, Scott or Deaton, but Stiles might subconsciously be sensing them. Which meant that whomever or whatever it was, most likely could be quite dangerous. She would tell Wilson and the others to keep a vigilant eye out, especially when around Scott, Stiles and their friends. As she moved to begin cleaning, Satomi noticed that Stiles had lightly scratched something in her table.

Stiles got into his jeep and he turned the key where heard his engine give a choppy sort of sound as it didn't start. He sighed before looking at the roll of tape he had ready on the dash. Stiles tried turning the key two more times before it finally started. He sighed in relief and then pulled out to begin to head off for home.

As the jeep passed down the road, a wolf suddenly pounced into the center of the road from the thick of the trees. It turned its head to watch the car's distancing dust trail with a calculating gaze. [The wolf's hungry eyes](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ivyNYn98F4Y/maxresdefault.jpg) had a golden glint as it watched the jeep dust trail get further away.

* * *

Scott was wheeling a small cart of used sheets and bedpans off for the washroom. He moved to adjust light blue scrubs he was wearing at the collar as he began to wheel it into the room.

"Got the last of them Cole," he called out as he moved on in.

The orderly nodded as he made a check on the clipboard he was holding. "Thanks Scott. Wheel them over there," he said pointing to the side as he moved to finish his notes. He then looked at his watch. "So, you're heading out?"

"Yeah, I have some things to do tonight before I head off to Senior Scribe Night."

Cole the orderly smiled. "Yes, I remember the tradition. Well, have fun."

Scott smiled back. "Oh, I will."

Cole then moved to extend his hand to him. "I'm going to miss you around Scott. It was great having you around here for more than just visiting your mother."

Scott's smile flattened a bit but he was still smiling slightly as he moved to return the handshake. "Yeah, I really liked working here."

"Even if it was cleaning up after the patients?" the man asked cheekily.

Scott shrugged. "Any way I can help."

The man nodded. "And good luck this year. I hope you get in to the school that you want. I'll be crossing my fingers for ya."

"Thanks Cole."

Scott then moved to head to the men's locker room so he could change into his normal clothes. He couldn't believe that summer was really over now. Especially after so much going on right now, things that thankfully had nothing to do with people dying or things coming to kill him and his friends. Since Mexico, Scott tried to settle back into his normal life again. Trying to keep his grades up and being the co-captain for the lacrosse team.

Being Co-captain this year turned out to be so much more enjoyable having Stiles as his fellow co-captain than it did with Jackson last year. Together, they were able to help Kira get a better hang of lacrosse and keep Liam from getting too crazy when things got too hot as they played. Stiles had also come up with an idea to try and change how their team played by rotating some players from first line and a few that regularly stayed on the bench instead of just keeping the same people from start to finish like they always had. Scott was quickly on board with that idea as it kept less of their teammates from getting worn out and hurt in the long run and made their players outside 1st line more important. They both knew what it was like to just be feeling useless being stuck to the bench the whole season. Ultimately, they were not only able to make State again, but win for the 2nd time in a row.

Scott just wished that his school work was just as great for him to celebrate. He did manage to pass all his classes but his grade in Science was not very impressive. Back when all the craziness with the Deadpool was going on, Scott hadn't really been studying as much as he would've liked. When they got some breathing room, he found the work getting harder towards finals. A lot of the stuff was confusing and he was mostly trying to get it all by himself. Stiles was busy trying to help Malia as she was having more trouble than he was and trying to be able to pass junior year and Lydia was spending more and more time with Parrish. He and Kira tried to study together but they usually wound up getting distracted halfway with each other a good deal of the time. When the school had its College Fair, with many colleges setting up their booths and sending their representatives, Scott found himself to be drawn to one school's in particular. That was why he was here now, working as an intern.

Scott sighed as he could still remember he and his mom talking about it at home, after the fair.

_"UC Davis? That's a good school," his mom had said when she heard his choice._

_"It's great. It has a great biology science program."_

_"You're interested in biology?" His mother was surprised._

_Scott nodded. "I've decided I want to try to be a vet. Working at the clinic I've helped Deaton help and heal many hurt and sick animals. I love it and I want to keep doing that."_

_Melissa's face lit up at that. "That's great honey." Her face then fell a bit. "But Scott, Davis may have the classes you want but we may not have the money to allow you to go. You see, I might have gotten a raise at the hospital and while it helps to better cover our bills, it won't cover them and your tuition at the same time."_

_Scott had been shocked but ecstatic to have come back from Mexico to news that his mother had been offered a raise at the hospital, as had a few others including Liam's stepfather. Apparently, a grateful patient had donated a lot of money to the hospital because its staff saved their life. They remembered seeing his mother, Liam's stepfather and a few others when they had been hurt during one of their crisis' though they didn't say which one it was or who they were and the board didn't seem to have asked. But, the hospital staff didn't seem to care about that. With this new boost to her salary there was starting to be some slow but good and steady change to making the house payments. Water, gas, power, car and food payments started to not bring as much grievance to his mother as before and Scott was happy to see some burden lift off her. Yet, they now have a new one._

_"Maybe I can ask Deaton for more hours this summer?" Scott had suggested. "And if my PSAT score is good enough then maybe I can find some kind of scholarship."_

_But his mom held her hand up to him. "Scott, it's not just about money. You've barely managed a C average in some classes and it's this year that colleges look at. These special kind of college courses will fill up first with people that have A's and then B's. You might have to look into going to summer school again to try and raise them up to qualify just for that. And a scholarship? Scott, they look to offer those to students that have AP classes. If you want to try and get one, you'll have to try and make one these classes first, and you can't with your current grades."_

_Scott knew that there were AP courses offered to seniors. Stiles had told him how he got into AP English and Math while the few classes Lydia still needed to graduate were all AP. Most seniors were taking at least one but Scott knew his grades weren't as high as he needed, especially in Science._

_"Well, maybe with school I can volunteer over at the hospital. You know, as a student intern. Colleges and Scholarships like that kind of stuff, don't they?"_

_His mom shook her head. "Scott, it's a nice thought but you're not going to have the time for summer school, taking more hours at the clinic and interning. You're going to have to seriously cut some corners this summer."_

_"Yeah," h_ _e sighed. Summer school was something he couldn't afford to cut but this would be the second summer in a row that he needed it for raising his GPA. "And last summer I promised that this year was going to be different. I tried, I really did."_

_"I know," his mom nodded. "I saw that you were really making an effort. But, to be fair, you had to deal with a lot in the last year," she lightly pointed out. Scott smiled sadly at her. She then let her gaze drop down to the floor. "Scott, sit down."_

_Scott could suddenly smell the anxiety pouring out of her. "Mom?" he asked in concern._

_She waited for him to sit down across from her before she started speaking again._

_"I've been doing some thinking. For a while now, since we first started having trouble with the house." She then paused for a moment. "Maybe…it might be best to try and look into finding a new place," she managed to force out. "Maybe something smaller and more affordable."_

_[His face began to fall](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/GiganticRawEgret-small.gif). "Wait, you mean…you want to give up the house?"_

_"I think its an option that we should really consider. We could look for a nice apartment downtown. Maybe one closer to the hospital or the animal clinic. It would definitely save on gas costs and we wouldn't have as many bills to worry about at once and that could help in saving up for you to go to college."_

_Scott shook his head and stepped over to her. "Mom, we don't have to give up the house. I can find another way to make tuition. I could look into having an on campus job during the semester. I hear that colleges actually cut tuition costs down-"_

_"Scott," his mother cut him off. His face fell a bit in confusion and she sighed as she paced off a bit. "I'm proud of the fact that you always think there can be a way to work through problems without forcing anyone to give anything up but, this time, that just might not be an option."_

_She paused as she let herself meet her son's eyes._

Scott finished pulling his shirt on as the memory finished passing through his mind. To be honest, Scott had tried his hardest not to think about that all summer. He wanted to make sure he never heard any of it again. That house had been there for him and his mom ever since they first came to Beacon Hills so long ago. So many bad things have happened in all those years: the divorce, a lay off scare at the hospital, Scott getting turned and all the brushes with death, with some of them dying. They've suffered through and lost so much. Yet, through all of that, they've had this house to go back to and fall on. So much work, smiles and tears were put into this place. He recalled when he took his father and pointed out all the marks and places in the house where accidents had happened. And there were things that weren't accidents now too. It was the only real home he'd known. Scott didn't want to add losing his home to the list of losses.

He never felt so motivated to study and push his GPA as high as he could in his summer classes. It had ultimately paid off because he got an email from the school telling him that he now was qualified to take an AP class. He managed to grab the last spot for AP Biology. And, if he studied enough and aced the SAT, he might better his chances for having a shot at a decent sized academic scholarship. He also was looking at sports scholarships as well. UC Davis had a lacrosse team but he found it was a woman's team so there was no scholarships to be had there. But there was a cross country team so he could try looking into something for that.

He made a new promise. To be able to make tuition without his mom having to resort to the drastic measure of giving up their house.

As for the internship, it turned out that Scott had the time for it as well. Deaton had told Scott that he couldn't give Scott more hours as business at the clinic was slow during the summer since most families took their pets to kennels when they went off for vacation. This summer in particular, seemed slower than usual and he felt that Scott might be able to fill the extra time he had with an internship at the hospital. His mother helped him get his name down for the program and he was there with two others from the high school, another senior and a junior.

But, it was over now. It was time for him to hurry home and clean himself up. After all, soon he needed to go and meet up with Stiles and Liam for later tonight.

* * *

Noah Stilinski was in his kitchen, navigating through the envelopes that came in the mail. Just the usual bills but he felt comfort in the fact that none of them were stamped with any notice warnings. Noah could remember how it had been not too long ago. How bleak he felt things were every time he would go through the piles of notice stamped envelopes. While things weren't exactly perfect in terms of paying for bills, the envelopes were laden with notice stamps like they had been a couple of months ago. Now though, along with the regular bills, there were also college brochures and application forms coming in with the mail. He was helping to separate the junk mail ones from the relevant ones for Stiles to look at later.

It was his son's senior year. After this year, Stiles would be going off to college and he was looking to see how he could help his son cover the costs for it. There had been the standard College Fair at the high school a few weeks after the mess in Mexico and Stiles had looked into academic scholarship awards and had gone to the school counselor for help as well. Stiles apparently went and put his name down for as many of them as he could find in his effort to do anything to lower the cost for tuition as much as possible. It was overkill but his counselor had informed him that as his grades had a history of always being high, and also an extracurricular, there was a good chance of perhaps even winning a full ride. Noah was proud to hear the news. Stiles was excited about that and soon started talking about finding a place where he and Scott could live close to their respective campuses.

That last thought made Noah sigh sadly to himself. He could see that his son didn't want to consider the possibility that life could very well go on and pull him, Scott, Lydia, Malia and Kira in different directions. Stiles was looking into schools solely in the San Francisco area. Scott and Kira had their eyes on universities in the UC district and Stiles was confident that Lydia could get into any one that she wanted. So, he wanted to find a school that would let him be close to all of them. His son claimed that he a vision of them continuing to take on whatever comes at them together just like they were right now. Noah tried talking to Stiles about his own friends from high school, how they had ended up going their separate ways, but that only seemed to invigorate Stiles to hold onto his 'vision' for the future even tighter. But he could start to see that some might already be ready to begin slipping from Stiles' grasp.

A few weeks ago, Henry Tate had come to see him while their kids were off on one of their date nights. Malia wasn't sure what she wanted to do. College didn't seem to have much interest for her whatsoever. Seeing as how the girl spent most of her life as a coyote until over half a year ago, it was understandable. Henry was worried his daughter might be forced to follow along Stiles' path instead of being able to choose her own, all in the name of keeping things as they were. Noah was concerned for that too and knew that Stiles would never want to do that to her. Or that Malia wouldn't want Stiles to jeopardize his own future for her sake either.

To be honest, Noah didn't want to press too much. Senior year was supposed to be something for these kids to enjoy. To take in and enjoy being with your friends and enjoy the last year you all were still kids, together. God knows they've all earned it.

Noah found an envelope that had a university stamp but seemed thicker than usual. It was from Georgetown University. He didn't remember Stiles saying anything about looking up this school, or any on the opposite side of the country, and decided to open it and check out what it was. His eyes widened as he read on. But when he heard a familiar jeep pull up into the driveway, he folded the papers up and set them back down.

"Stiles?" he called out after the door opened.

"Yeah," Stiles panted, stepping into the kitchen and nodding to his father. "I thought you would've already left for work."

"Oh, I'm going in another hour. At around sunset."

"Sunset?"

Noah raised his eyebrows at him. "Don't think you're the only one that keeps track of full moons around here anymore."

Stiles nodded. "Ah, well I have to get ready myself. There's a long night ahead of us."

"Yes there is."

It was Senior Scribe Night. All of the seniors would be gathering at the school around midnight for the traditional event. Stiles had been looking forward to it for the last couple of days. The official start of senior year began for all of them at midnight.

"I'm just going to get cleaned up and grab the chains for Liam."

Noah shook his head. It amazed him that he hardly blinked after hearing something like that now.

"Well, make sure he stays out of trouble. You're lucky I was able to whip up a believable explanation for what happened last month."

"How did you explain that anyway?" Stiles asked him.

The man shrugged. "Drunk teens on a bender."

* * *

Cora was turning the key and opening the door right before a wonderful smell filling her nose.

"Smells good," she said, stepping in and hanging her bag on one of the hooks by the door.

She moved off for the kitchen and found her brother by the stove, over a simmering pot of stew.

Derek turned to look at her. "Do you have to sound so surprised every time?" he rolled his eyes at her, but the jest was clear in his voice.

After what happened in Mexico, Derek had grabbed all the things he had ready from his loft in Beacon Hills and headed straight to upstate New York as quick as he could. He traveled to Maggie's home and was greeted immediately with a good and solid punch to the face from his sister as soon as she locked her sights on him. It was then followed by a tight and fierce hug as she exploded on him for nearly letting Kate kill him, again. As he rubbed at his cheek while she squeezed him, Derek looked up and was getting an amused smile from Maggie. Their eyes locked for a moment and they found themselves looking down at the same time. When that was all done with, he then went off to see his new nephew, Jason Boyd Hale. Derek was happy to see that Cora named him in honor of their father and his fallen beta.

After about a week, Derek and Cora decided that they should look into getting a place of their own. Maggie told them that she didn't mind them staying with her but the Hales siblings felt it was the best thing. Cora felt like she had imposed herself on Maggie enough after Derek had left her there for all those months and Maggie had done more than enough. As for Derek, he felt it was time to start taking care of his own family instead of having others do it for him as well as having space to sort out his personal and complicated feelings between her and Braeden. They found a nice condo in the next town over 15 miles away. It had more than enough room for the three of them.

Cora moved to sit down at the table nearby. "I can't help it. I don't remember you being much of a cook growing up."

"Well, I kind of had to learn after-" He trailed off and turned to frown down at the pot and stirred it. He then blinked his discomfort away and cleared his throat. "So, how was work today?

Derek had encouraged Cora to start trying to pursue some grade of normalcy now that they settled here. He arranged for her to take an evaluation test for her GED and was surprised when she passed with flying colors.

 _"All that time I was off on my own in South America and all these months with Maggie, did you think I had been just sitting on my hands?"_  she had asked him incredulously.

He wisely hadn't answered. For the summer, she had gotten a job at the community center as a lifeguard.

"Yeah, it was fine. No one drowned though we did have close call when a nine year old almost barfed in the pool. What about you? Did he give you any trouble?"

"No, Jay was an angel. Which is surprising, given his mother," [he commented half-heartedly](https://media.giphy.com/media/3eVrl7QplfdU4/giphy.gif). He took very much to his nephew and quickly gave him the nickname.

"Ha ha," Cora said, in a monotone voice.

The stew was just about finished and Derek moved to get some bowls for them and they heard a soft moan with their wolf ears. Thanks to their hyper hearing, they didn't need to get baby monitors as they would always know when the baby would need them. They both moved off for the nursery and headed for the crib.

Jason was dressed in baby blue baby overalls in deep blue booties and a matching blue cap. He was currently putting his mouth on the ear of his stuffed wolf toy. The beginning of three teeth could be seen making their way onto his gums. His eyes looked up to gaze at them. They smiled as they watched him keep gnawing on the toy that Derek had gotten him.

"[Hey Jason](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ScarceDishonestAmericanpainthorse-size_restricted.gif)," Cora mumbled softly. "Did you miss me?"

She moved to pick him up and rock him in her arms.

"I'll go and have the stew finished and ready," Derek told her before leaving.

As Cora swayed him in her arms, she saw Jason's eyes fall over to the wall on the side, where there was a small framed picture hanging. Jason's deep brown eyes stared at it before he yawned and leaned to cozy into his mother's warmth.

Cora turned to look at the drawing of a ship sailing on what seemed to be stormy waters. It had been with the box of Laura's things that Derek brought back with him from Beacon Hills. Derek had forgotten it was there and almost threw it away when Jason, who had been crying at the time, calmed at the sight of it. He seemed to like it so Cora decided to keep it for the baby's room and placed it into a nursery themed frame. She had to admit, she grew to like it herself and could understand why Laura must've kept it around. She wondered who had drawn it for her as the only writing on it was the word Mischief on the ship.

* * *

It was passing dusk in Beacon Hills and the town's street lights lit up.

Outside a condemned house, the three figures that destroyed the marker, were standing side by side as they solemnly stared at it. Each of them were donned in dark trench coats, wearing them over steam powered mechanisms, and had their faces completely covered up with giant metallic head masks.

"The subject is almost ready to emerge," the one to the far left, the Geneticist, said in a distorted and muffled voice. "Sooner than calculated."

The one to the right, the Pathologist, looked over to the one in the middle. He spoke with his own distorted and muffled voice through his mask. "Too soon. Probability is high for his condition to be unreliable."

The middle figure, the Surgeon, brandished his cane down to hit the ground. "We wait." His voice was deeper and the most distorted of the three. "Observe, evaluate and collect the data. It may prove instructive."

"What of Subject 1?" asked the Geneticist. "His use for the new subject?"

"Negligible," replied the Surgeon. "The primary objective is priority over all."

* * *

Virgil was sitting in a chair by the giant metal door of the shop in his work overalls. He had been left on his own at the garage while his boss took their tow truck out to answer a call of a car swerving off the side of the road and getting stuck in a ditch. There weren't any customers or cars in right now so he was left alone with his thoughts. The only thing to distract him were the stray cars passing by the shop and stopping at the light. To curb his boredom, Virgil had his tarot deck on hand and every time a car was passing by or stopping, he would draw a card and look at it with a bored look on his face.

A station wagon was in his line of sight as he went and drew a card after shuffling them. [He looked at it](https://tommy2.net/2012/roshonfegan2.jpg) with little interest. "Loving person but struggles with what to do with his life."

Behind that car pulled in a convertible where he could make out what seemed to be a middle aged woman. He let his eyes fall on the back of her head as she waited for the light to change so she could go on. He quickly shuffled his deck and drew another card. "Hard working and not afraid to take risks," he mumbled to himself as he saw her card. "Good on her."

A few minutes later, a minivan was passing by and he drew another. Looking at the card, he rolled his eyes. "A douche canoe. Enough said."

The tarot cards were his only real distraction here on these kind of nights as the wifi connection at the garage was weak and slow. Even if at times he did find them stupid, they were his grandmother's. He sighed as he thought of her, and his father. Of what had happened to them a little over a year ago. That trail of thought made him set his tarot cards down a little more roughly than he had intended. So rough, that the deck fell off the side of his little side table. "Damn," he said as they fell.

The cards spilled on the floor just as a hard wind blew by. One of the cards went and flew off out of the garage's front gate and Virgil went after it. These cards were all he had left of his grandmother and as silly as he found them sometimes, he didn't want to lose a single one. The wind was carrying it off as it flapped in the wind before it landed on the curb of the street, next to some brush. Virgil ran and quickly dropped down to it, in case the wind blew it off again. He picked it up and saw that it was The Death card. He heard a small sound and he then lifted his head to look into the darkness of the tree brush in front of him. He then looked around to find that he had gone to a dark corner of the street, almost half a block away. He found himself moving to quickly head back for the auto shop as fast as he could as he started to feel a deep chill, despite it being very warm tonight. He never liked The Death card, ever since his grandmother drew it for him during his first reading when he first moved to Beacon Hills. She said that it would mark his literal doom.

What he didn't know was, that in one month, he would be back at that same spot, staring death in the face. And the jaws.

* * *

A/N: Well, I hope you liked the first chapter of the story. Things are already taking shape for what will be the strongest and life-altering challenge our favorite teen pack encounters yet. And, introducing two new characters, Virgil Edelman and Wilson Grant. With Satomi's pack, we only got the names of three of them before Season 5 so I thought that with Stiles' new relationship with their Alpha, there would room to get a little more familiar with them, like a name and maybe the symbol for her pack since all the others had their own. I looked through Buddhist symbols and thought the Eight Spoke Wheel was easy enough for a werewolf to carve using their claws and was fitting. As for Virgil, let's just say he and his tarot cards will be important for what I have planned down the line for Stiles and Scott's relationship and futures.


	3. Creatures of the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the full moon as everyone rushes for the last night of summer. Liam has some trouble and Scott and Stiles deal with some lingering issues. Parrish is attacked by a new creature seeking Scott.

[Scott was sitting on the front of Stiles' jeep, looking at the stars, while Stiles was leaning on the side behind him.](http://fangirlish.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/creatures-of-the-night.jpg) He was gazing down at a California map, making measurements and gauging distances. After his internship Scott had gotten picked up from the hospital from Stiles and they went to collect Liam from the party he had gone to when it was around dusk.

Liam had been reluctant to leave, as he was there with Mason, but Lori said that when it was time to go then Mason could hitch a ride with her and Brett. He told her that he appreciated it and gave her a hug before he quickly separated when he realized what he was doing. He hadn't noticed that Brett had seen them and flashed his sister a teasing smirk; which she had answered with a sarcastic finger his way.

Stiles was silently gazing over the marked places he made on his map of the San Francisco area and surrounding counties. "All right, so I found some cool two bedrooms over in the Mission District but they're pretty expensive. A couple in Haight and Ashbury are also expensive."

"Expensive," Scott huffed out. That was one word he had truly come to hate as of late.

"Yeah," mumbled Stiles. "Has your mom brought up giving up the house again?"

"No, she hasn't said anything about it. But…I overheard her on the phone almost two weeks ago. Talking to a realty company and asking about making audits on homes." Scott let his head droop a bit. "She's getting ready to put our house up for sale."

When Scott heard about his mom's promotion at the hospital, he thought that it would mean the end of worrying about them losing the house. If anything, it felt like that idea was stronger and closer than ever.

Stiles held a steadying hand up. "Whoa, Hey Scott, it just sounds like she's only checking into it. It doesn't necessarily mean she's actually going to do it. You said it was over a week ago, right?" Scott nodded. "Well, nothingso happened. At least, she would tell you first, before she did anything, right?"

Scott let a sigh loose. "Yeah…you're right." He then cleared his throat. "But if I want to make sure that it doesn't come to that then I really need to knuckle down on costs."

"Well…I guess we could try looking over at Nob Hill for a place. Students like to live there so it shouldn't be too hard to find a decent place."

"A two bedroom place?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Maybe we're being too picky. I think we should try looking into…more."

Stiles moved his eyes from the map to look Scott in the eye. "More? Wait, you mean…roommates?"

"It would be a lot less expensive if there were more than just two of us in on the rent. And there would be a lot more places to look if we didn't limit ourselves to just the two of us. Maybe live in a place with two or three other guys, splitting the rent more ways. I think we should really consider it."

"Consider it? Scott, maybe that's not such a good idea. You know, for us to just live with total strangers all of a sudden."

"Why?" asked Scott. He couldn't help but think it was a good solution to his problem.

Stiles rose his eyes at him, wondering how Scott could be so dense. "Uh how about because of this?"

Stiles then had his eyes shift and glow to him. Yet, at the sight of his blue eyes, Scott's own eyes averted as he looked over to the side.

[Stiles tightened his jaw](https://66.media.tumblr.com/c7ab47cf6d2b96e23c4f0ec09b6072da/tumblr_plawb8uS8t1vsvti5o1_540.jpg) as he made his wolf eyes go back to normal. Scott still wouldn't look at him in the eye whenever he shifted them. It had been the first time in the last six months since Stiles shifted his eyes in front of Scott. Since Mexico there hadn't any trouble or need for him to outside his time with Satomi and her pack. Before, whenever Scott turned and averted his gaze from him and his blue eyes, Stiles would always feel terrible for a few moments. Now, he found a small bit of irritation bubbling in his stomach as he moved to clench his fist. Stiles was finding himself getting more pissed off than upset but as he felt his claws starting to grow and dig into his palms, he unclenched his hand and anchored himself down with thoughts of his dad and Malia. This was supposed to be a happy and special night and he didn't want to ruin it.

Scott turned to look back up at the moon as he sighed at the pin his friend just stuck into his idea. Sharing a decent place close to school along with cutting down the rent. It did seem like it might be the best option he could go for. Or…why not take it a notch further? He could look into rushing for a fraternity. Yeah, guys in a frat didn't have to pay rent at all, didn't they? Yet, he didn't think that Stiles would be hip to that idea if he was against the notion of living with multiple roommates. Though, Scott couldn't help but think that he might have a point. With everything they had to deal with, it was too big a chance that they could get exposed and drag more people into all of this. Scott sighed then. Why did this werewolf stuff have to ruin everything?

"Maybe it's too early to think about this stuff anyway," Scott muttered as he kept his gaze on the sky. "Maybe we should wait and worry about finishing this year before we start thinking about where we're going to live after."

"Yeah, maybe," Stiles muttered back. He then started to fold the map back up. When he was done, he saw Scott was still staring at the sky and he turned to gaze at the full moon himself. "It's not bothering you, is it?"

"No. Just thinking," Scott said with a shrug.

"About what?"

"Stuff," he mumbled. "Mostly about it being senior year. I can't believe it's really here."

"Actually, senior year doesn't officially start until after our thing at midnight." Stiles noticed the expression on Scott's face seemed glum. "You don't seem happy about it though."

Scott kept his eyes on the moon as he shook his head. "No, I am, it's just…with how things have been lately."

"What are you talking about?"

"Deaton said something to me once."

"Oh, what?"

"You ever hear of regression to the mean?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Well, basically its his way of saying that life can't ever be all bad or all good. You know, eventually, things have to come back to the middle. The last six months, things have been good, right? But not amazing," Scott explained to him.

Stiles sighed as he started to draw invisible spirals on the hood of his jeep with his finger. "You mean like how no one's tried to kill any of us in the last six months?" he dryly said.

"Things have been pretty much in the middle for us for a while. That means, at some point, the scale has to tip one way or the other. Things are either going to be really good-"

"Or really bad," Stiles ended for him. With the tense feelings he's been having lately, Stiles hoped that it all wasn't a sign that things were going to swing for them to be getting bad, soon. He then looked at his watch and his eyes nearly popped out. "Oh man."

"What?" Scott asked. "We still have plenty of time, don't we?"

"Yeah, but no that's not it. We have to go," Stiles coughed up. "Uh hey, you [think it's been long enough?](https://data.whicdn.com/images/188094236/original.gif)"

"Yes!" Liam shouted off from the side.

Scott and Stiles took a look over where [Liam was bound](http://www.teamtsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/LET-LIAM-LIVE-3.gif) to a tree in thick chains. It was wrapped completely around him and the tree two times and held by a thick steel lock. The kid had an annoyed look on his face as he stared back at them.

"Hey, do you mind?!" Stiles shot at him. "Trying to have an adult conversation over here!"

Liam rolled his eyes. "You're only two years older than me." He had been listening in and while he thought some of what they were talking about was uncomfortable, he would hardly call it 'adult'. He then gestured over to the chain linking him. "You going to let me out now?"

Scott gave Stiles a look and Stiles answered it with a roll of his eyes. Scott moved over, pulling out a set of keys from his pocket and Stiles walked over with him. Scott stopped a few feet from Liam as he looked expectant at him.

Scott sighed. "Liam, look it's not like I don't trust you-" he started.

Stiles cut him off. "It's that I don't trust you."

"I said I was sorry," Liam sighed. "You didn't have to chain me up, you know."

Stiles put his hands on his hips as he gave the kid a critical look. "Yeah, well I knew you could handle being on your own last month and you saw how wrong I was there."

Liam suddenly could detect the smell of disappointment drifting over from Stiles. He'd recently started getting trained in identify chemo signals though it was still a work in progress. Yet, he found he knew this scent all too well. Liam dropped his gaze a bit. "It was just one slip up," he defended meekly.

That made Stiles raise an eyebrow. "[A slip up? A dozen calls to the Sheriff's Department about a monstrous dog boy running around Beacon Hills naked, you call that a  _slip up_?](http://www.teamtsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/LIAM-KNOWS-BEST-1.gif)"

Scott then narrowed his eyes. "[Why were you naked?](http://www.teamtsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/LIAM-KNOWS-BEST-2.gif)"

"[It was really hot that night okay.](http://reallylatereviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/tumblr_nqqgezC51v1qdhizao3_r1_500.gif) It won't happen again."

"I still don't get why it happened at all. The month before, you were handling the full moon, no problem. I even started to teach you chess because it was starting to get boring just sitting around with you all night. How could you have lost control two hours into the night on your own? What were you doing?" asked Stiles.

Some color went to Liam's cheeks. "Uh…just stuff."

Stiles could guess what kind of 'stuff' Liam was up to by the rush of emotions now coming from him. "So, instead of taking a cold shower like a normal teen, you shift and run out into the streets in your birthday suit?" he asked incredulously.

"Can you just let me out now?" Liam turned to look away from them, trying to drown out the fresh humiliation he was feeling. "Please?" he asked, looking over at Scott.

Scott's face softened as Liam looked desperately at him and the Alpha decided to spare him anymore embarrassment.

"You sure you're okay?" Liam nodded. As he did, Scott detected a small hint of blood in the air. "You're in complete and total control?"

Liam caught him in his eyes. "I'm fine," he said, staring at his Alpha's eyes.

"Are you?" Stiles pressed, his tone clearly saying he wasn't convinced. Not only did he hear a jump in Liam's heart as he said that to Scott, but he could smell the faint scent of blood as well.

The young beta's eyes moved to him and Liam's heart skipped a beat. Stiles was looking right at him and Liam began to fight the urge to nervously swallow.

"Stiles, a storm is coming, remember?" Scott said pointedly. He then moved to release him from the chains. "Besides, didn't you just say we have to get going? We don't want to be late."

"We can always come back for him later," Stiles lightly suggested. Scott just stared at him and Stiles rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine."

Stiles let himself look at Liam for another second before he moved back to his jeep.

"Come on Liam," Scott gently said to him before he followed after Stiles. "We'll drop you off at the hospital with your stepdad."

Liam let himself watch their backs before he looked down at the palms of his hands. There were deep cuts in the palms, made from his claws. The smell of fresh blood was so clear to him. If the scent was that clear to him then Liam guessed that Scott and Stiles caught it right away. They must know he had been lying.

As they walked on ahead, Scott dropped his voice to a whisper to not let Liam hear them. " _You don't have to be so hard on him_."

" _Well, you don't have to be so easy on him either,"_ Stiles said back. _"I know you could smell it too. He lied right to your face_."

" _I know but we can't just start treating him like a criminal over one mistake. It's not like we didn't make any or lie when we first turned_."

Stiles let out a small huff at that one. He won't deny the lies but was tempted to remind Scott where the bulk of the mistakes had come from. " _Maybe not but Scott, at least I don't coddle and indulge him whenever he makes sad eyes at me. Keep it up and instead of a beta, you're going to wind up with a baby_."

Scott had flinched and gone silent until they got into the jeep and Liam got into the back. The next five minutes in the jeep were spent in silence. Stiles was driving them out of the woods, Scott was staring off at the passing trees. Liam was sitting firmly, scrolling down the playlist on his phone, focusing harder than normal on each one. He couldn't help but feel the thick tension that was in this car; so thick that you could tear into it with a set of claws.

"Hey," Liam suddenly said, trying to break the gaping silence. "What's going on tonight at the school anyway? Is it a party?"

"No, it's not a party," Stiles replied, keeping his eyes firmly on the road.

"Then what's at midnight?"

"[Your bedtime](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/teen-wolf-pack/images/6/67/Stiles_and_liam_creatures_of_the_night.gif/revision/latest?cb=20160727150959)," Stiles said shortly.

Liam guessed Stiles was a little pissed with him. "What about the girls?" he went on. "Why aren't they going?"

"Because they're meeting us there, okay? We're picking Malia up now. And could you quit it with the questions already. It's a senior thing and you'll know when you're a senior," Stiles huffed out.

Stiles darted his eyes a bit and looked over at his friend who was gazing absently out the window at the passing trees. Scott had been silent after he made that last statement about Liam. The kid lied right to their faces, to Scott's face, and Scott knew that he did. He no doubt smelled the blood coming from him just as he had. Yet Scott caved and gave in to what Liam wanted just by him batting his eyes and crying to him. He couldn't help but be upset with him, both of them.

But Scott hadn't been thinking about Liam or the fact that he lied. He was stuck on Stiles and how he said he'd be the one to wind up with a 'baby'. He couldn't help but think it ironic coming from Stiles of all people.

After everything had calmed down after Mexico, Scott had called Derek and came out with his suspicions of the father of Cora's baby; even though he had been bracing for it Scott was still thrown when Derek admitted that he was right. Stiles and Cora had slept together during her time in Beacon Hills and had gotten pregnant though hadn't found out until two weeks after they had left. Peter also knew and Derek told him that it would be safer for Cora and the baby if not too many others did. About Cora having a baby or that Stiles was the father. Scott felt that Stiles should at least know but Derek told him not to say anything. Stiles was smart and if he knew that Cora had a kid then he would quickly guess who the father had to be. He said the situation was complicated now and Cora also didn't want Stiles to know, at least not now. Scott didn't like it but agreed to keep it a secret though he already found himself struggling around Stiles enough without all this. He just wished he could talk about it over with somebody though.

He faintly registered Stiles mentioning his girlfriend. "Malia's back?" he asked softly. Last he heard, she still hadn't come back from her vacation with her father. And he wanted to take his mind off what he had just been dwelling on.

Stiles sighed but nodded. "Uh, yeah. Malia called me earlier. She and her dad got back into town this afternoon."

"You didn't go see her?"

"No. I wanted to let Malia and her dad settle back in first. They had been gone for a while and I thought I shouldn't come barging in at the front door not even an hour after they just got home," Stiles said a bit glumly. He had been missing Malia in the last couple of weeks. But he knew that he wasn't the only one without his girlfriend. "What about Kira? Her flight was today, right?"

Scott nodded. "She and her parents' plane should've landed less than an hour ago. They're probably on their way back to Beacon Hills right now."

"Kira knows to be at the school though right?"

"And what's happening at the school?' Liam cut in.

Stiles looked up at the rearview mirror to narrow his eyes at the kid. "What did I just say? Don't make me turn this jeep around."

Liam just huffed and let his back sink into the seat as he moved to pull back out his phone. Scott took out his own phone to try and call Kira to see how far off she was but found that he wasn't getting any reception.

"Hey Liam, are you having trouble with your phone?" Scott asked, moving it around a bit. "Stiles?"

"What? No service?" Stiles asked. But before he could get an answer, there was sputtering noises in front of him and the jeep started to slow. "Oh, what the hell?" he sighed.

The jeep moved on for a few more seconds before it slowed to a complete stop. The headlights then went off as well.

"You out of gas?" asked Liam.

"No, it's electrical," Stiles said. "Probably the alternator again," he stressfully said as he moved to get out.

Scott got out and joined him as Stiles moved to pull the front hood up. Scott's eyes widened as he gazed inside.

"Whoa, that's a lot of duct tape." A lot was an understatement. The entire engine and all the valves had duct tape almost everywhere. There were few places that weren't covered up at all. That made Stiles give him a short look. "Kidding," Scott said quickly. "We'll fix it."

"I know," Stiles stressfully sighed out. "It's just that it's the last night of summer so I wanted to make sure that everyone was there tonight."

"We'll make it. You got any tools?"

"Yeah," Stiles said before he revealed a roll of duct tape.

Some lightning was starting to flash overhead as Stiles started to pull some out and put a new layer on top of the old one. Liam was trying distract himself with some music when a [bolt of lightning struck](http://66.media.tumblr.com/413dfc1a8d8c07212be53d39c55349e4/tumblr_nuo8y4RWiU1ti85p5o2_250.gif) at the road about a couple of yards behind them.

"Guys," he called out, just before another bolt of lightning struck the road. This time a bit closer. "Guys!" he cried out.

"Yeah, give us a second please," Stiles said as he pulled out some more tape.

"Yeah, Liam stay in the car, okay?" Scott said before moving to help Stiles apply the tape on.

But then a [bolt of lightning struck](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_501_lightning_strike.gif) about ten feet behind them, making the two of them jump.

"That was close," Scott said staring at the charred spot.

"Very close," Stiles breathed, also staring at it.

Just then, the jeep seemed to spur to life as the lights came on and the engine restarted.

Liam stuck his head out of the window. "Can we go now?"

* * *

Two pairs of wrists were wrapped by metal cuffs as the two werewolves they belonged were sitting against a stone wall, where they were chained to. The chains were jingling as one of the werewolves was pulling on them, thrashing about trying to get free. The full moon was driving him into a frenzy while the other one chained next to him was sitting more calmly but was breathing harder and quicker than usual. Their eyes both burning bright gold.

Charlie Harris was feeling the effect of the full moon drilling into him and trying to drive him into a primal frenzy. He had been bitten by the Alpha named Oscar not too long ago and the one chained next to him had been bit just one month ago. Charlie looked over at the six others in the room who were watching them in a semi-circle like formation. Mixes of gold and blue eyes were glowing in the darkness as they stared at him.

Over in the shadows, Oscar was observing them with another of his betas.

"Charlie seems to have fully mastered control after only six months. He hasn't showed any kind of effect all night."

Oscar nodded. "Yes, he's disciplined. Thanks to his military training he is already adept at coping and keeping focused in stressful circumstances. The other was a military school student. He will probably also adapt quickly too though maybe not tonight on his second full moon. But, when he does then our pack will be at 13. But that's still not enough." He turned away to go to the window and gaze up at the full moon overhead. "Any new information?"

"No sir. The Hales seemed to have settled in Green Ridge. Derek and Cora have been integrating themselves with the locals there as well as staying in contact with your Emissary's student Maggie. They have not made any indication of leaving any time soon."

"Good. I want you to keep the watch over them but make sure it stays at a distance. I don't want them to feel the need to leave."

His beta nodded. "Of course sir."

"In the meantime, we might have to step up our time table a bit."

"Oscar?"

"My instincts are at their peak tonight and they're telling me that things have been accelerated. So we must do the same if we want to stay ahead of what's to come."

* * *

"Alright everyone, we have to hurry and get this moved off the road," said Henry Tate.

He was with a small group of people and helping to move a downed tree that was spread along the middle of the road. He knew that a storm was impending and even though the rain hadn't hit them yet, there were already a few strong winds and the skies were darkening.

Malia looked up to see that the full moon was almost fully blocked by the impending cloud cover. "Yeah dad. The storm is almost here. I can smell the rain getting closer," she said to him.

A man next to Henry rose an eyebrow. "Did you just say you can smell the rain?"

"The moisture," Henry quickly explained. "It's getting thick enough to smell."

"Well, I guess it's getting humid," the guy shrugged.

Henry clapped his hands to get the others attention. "Yeah, so unless we want to just hang around and get drenched, let's get this out of the way." The guys moved to gather around the tree and tried to lift it up but the tree was only shaking a bit in place. "C'mon, lift with your legs!" he called out to the others. "That's where your power is."

Malia stood to the side and watched as her dad and the others only managed to make the thick tree hover over the ground as they slowly tried to move it. She looked to her phone and saw the time. This whole tree business was slowing them down enough and decided to just speed this along. She moved over and bent over to take hold of the tree. [She pushed it](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/HeavenlyFondAntelope-max-1mb.gif) out of the grasps of the others and they watched as she tossed it off to the side, all on her own. She turned around to see them all looking at her a bit gob smacked, including her father.

[She shrugged at them](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5xRfd9UjsV0/VZmS_D8Dw_I/AAAAAAAAPs4/S0sPkSYpSlI/s1600/4%2B-%2BMalia%2Band%2BDad.jpg). "What? I lifted with my legs like you said."

Henry gave a nervous chuckle. "Yes. Yes, you did Malia." He then turned to the others. "My daughter loves to climb," he explained. "Lots of upper body strength."

They then quickly moved for his car as they moved to not stick around and drive out of there. Malia was able to see that her dad was wound up and could smell how anxious he was.

"I'm sorry," Malia said.

Henry sighed. "You have to learn to be more careful Malia. You can't just show off your strength in public like that."

"Yeah," she mumbled. "I know. It was just that you all were taking too long."

Henry let his eyes fall to the clock and saw that there were already ten minutes late and they would still take fifteen more to get to where Henry was supposed to drop Malia off. That made him sigh. "I know you're eager to see your boyfriend but you shouldn't put yourself at risk like that."

"I've just…never been this long without seeing Stiles before."

"Malia, I'm sure Stiles wants to see you too but he wouldn't you to get in trouble over him."

"I know," she sighed. "He's just been so excited about tonight. I don't want to ruin it by being late."

Henry moved his right hand to lightly take her left. "You won't ruin anything. Malia, you could never make anything worse, only better. My life may have gotten stranger and crazier since you came back, but it's much better with you back in it then out of it."

Malia smiled widely at him which he returned. They had such a good time that they could hardly believe that their dual vacation was really over. Henry and Malia had taken the last few weeks to go off on a father-daughter road trip. He felt they had a lot of time to make up for, and with Malia pushing past her late start to pass junior year, a lot to celebrate. They left town at the start of the month and started cruising down the interstate. The first week, it was just random driving and they found themselves camping at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. She remembered how she and her dad heard a howl in the distance that night and she told him it was a coyote. They drove to all kinds of places in the country, like Las Vegas, Mount Rushmore, St. Louis, the Mississippi River and New York City just to name a few.

They were half an hour late at the meeting spot but there was no sign of Stiles' jeep anywhere. Malia pulled out her phone but saw that there were no bars.

"I have no service."

"The storm might not be fully here yet but it looks like its already taken out the cell towers. You don't think Stiles already came and then took off do you?" asked Henry.

Malia shook her head. "Something probably happened with Liam. He was going to help Scott watch him a bit tonight."

"That kid still having problems with, you know, the whole thing?" he asked suggestively.

"Stiles thinks he's improving but could still use a little bit of help with a few things. I hope nothing happened tonight."

Henry nodded before his eyes narrowed as he caught something to the right. "I guess we're about to find out," he said before he pointed the approaching jeep out to her.

Stiles jeep moved to park itself across the street and the horn honked. Malia started jogging right for it with Henry walking calmly behind her.

Stiles stuck his head out of the window and smiled brightly over at Malia. "Sorry we're late! Hey."

Malia just smiled at him as she moved to grab at Stiles' face and gave him a [deep kiss](http://www.teamtsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Cutiiiiiiiiiies-2.gif) which he eagerly returned. Stiles moaned softly as he smelled, felt and tasted Malia again after weeks of her being gone. They broke apart and Stiles was grinning at her with a drunk like smirk.

A second later, Liam moved up and smiled at her in a mocking copy of Stiles grin. "[I'm sorry too](http://www.purefandom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Cutiiiiiiiiiies-3.gif)," he said to her.

Liam clearly wanted to try and get back at Stiles for earlier. Stiles turned to give him a pointed look while Scott bit the corner of his cheek to not laugh or grin at this.

Henry wasn't amused though, especially after the shameless kiss that they had right in front of him. "[You boys do remember I own a gun, right?](http://www.teamtsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Cutiiiiiiiiiies-4.gif)"

"[Vividly](http://www.teamtsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Cutiiiiiiiiiies-5.gif)," Stiles nodded. A memory of Henry cocking and firing his shotgun coming clearly back to him.

"Okay, bye dad," Malia said to him, with a wave.

Henry gave Stiles a mild glare before he turned over to Malia and gave her a quick wink before he took off. Liam scooted over as Malia hopped in the back seat with him.

"How was your trip?" Scott asked.

Malia smiled as she let the back of her head rest against the seat's head rest. "It was great. My dad and I saw so many great places. Had a lot of fun. And you guys? Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

Scott, Stiles and Liam gave each other some looks before they shrugged. "Not really," they mumbled together.

"Not even when they found you naked during the full moon?" she asked, looking at Liam.

"You told her about that?!" Liam cried.

She shrugged. "Yeah, why not, it's not like they haven't seen me naked before."

Liam turned to look back at her. "What? When was this?"

Malia nodded. "When I first met them."

"Really, they saw you? Can I?" Liam said fast paced and a bit eagerly.

Stiles quickly cut in. "Okay, no more talking. And keep your hands to yourself," he said, pointing a warning finger at Liam before he turned back around. "Or I'll make you wish you stayed chained to that tree." He then pulled the car back into drive and moved them out of there.

* * *

It hadn't started to rain yet but already there were flashes of lightning flashing through the sky. There were a few scrambled cell towers and some blackout spots. Many people were already making calls to the Sheriff's department about it all. The officers were running around and Deputy Jordan Parrish was at his desk, taking calls from complaining townspeople.

"Yes, ma'am, we're having trouble with the power as well. It's most likely related to the storm," he said in a mechanical voice before he then hung up.

"Parrish!" Noah Stilinski said as he stepped out of his office. "Go and check the back up generator and make sure it's fueled." The deputy nodded to him as the phone rang again. "And Parrish, answer the phone," he said before stepping back into his office and closing the door.

Jordan let out an annoyed sigh as he looked at the phone that was ringing in front of him. "Alright," he muttered to himself. He then moved, not to answer the phone or to go and check up on the back up generator, but to the Sheriff's office. He had enough.

Noah looked up from his desk, surprised to see Parrish coming into his office, with a driven expression on his face. "Parrish, what-"

But Jordan didn't let him say more than that as he shut the door behind him. "Six months. Six months of directing traffic, doing courthouse security, serving subpoenas, and today I finished a total organizational overhaul of evidence lock-up. Now, I'm stuck behind the front desk while there are downed power lines, a jackknifed tractor-trailer and reports of gunshots downtown?!"

That made the Sheriff sigh, "Parrish" almost tiredly.

But Jordan wouldn't bend. "I don't know what I did to lose your trust but you need every available deputy out there."

He didn't understand why the man was doing this to him. Six months ago, he had gone and helped protect the man's werewolf son and his pack of friends; fighting against giant, skeleton wearing monsters before locking up the deranged madman and she-devil behind it all in a Mexican ghost town. He thought he more than proved himself to Stilinski but then he just started making him do scut jobs out of nowhere.

Noah then nodded. "Okay, got something for you." He then lifted a file from his desk up to him.

Jordan went to take it and gave it a glance before he looked back at him. "A noise complaint?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Somebody made a noise, somebody else complained about it. Check it out."

Jordan bit down his irritation and then just left the office without another word.

He didn't see Noah's eyes following after him with a glum look on his face. Noah didn't like doing this and wondered if maybe he and Melissa were really handling Parrish's situation in the right way after all.

Jordan got to the address and found that it looked like an extravagant looking but condemned house. He stepped inside to see that it looked empty.

"Hello?!" he called out as he shined a flashlight inside. "This is the Beacon County Sheriff's Department!"

The house didn't look like anyone had stepped in it for a few years now. There was a layer of dust and even a downed chandelier in the hall. He looked around and started to head down to check the basement. He kept calling out but there was no answer or any kind of noise outside his own feet and the wind. The rational part of his mind was thinking this was just a prank though there was a part of him making him feel like he was stepping closer and closer into danger.

When he got to the basement, he started to hear a scratching noise. He followed it and came into a wall, that seemed to be dust free and freshly assembled. The scratching got louder and he pressed his ear to the wall and jumped when he heard and felt banging. Jordan's eyes widened as he realized that someone was stuck inside the wall.

"Hey! Hey, can you hear me?!" he cried. The person banged against the wall even harder, probably out of response. "Okay, okay, I'm going to get you out of there! I'm coming right back, just hang on!" Jordan ran out for his truck where he went to the back and pulled out a crowbar and ran back for the basement. "I'm back. Listen, back up if you can!"

Jordan then moved to strike at the wall but only managed to make a small chip in the stone. He kept hitting and chipping at it until he made a small hole clean through it. As soon as he did, a black substance begun pouring out of it. The wall began to crack and the goo sprayed off at his face. Jordan wiped at it and realized that it was blood. The very next second, something crashed through the wall and grabbed at his throat. Jordan found himself getting pushed back as he was lifted into the air. He looked down and was staring into the blue eyes of something covered in what seemed to be black blood. His eyes were glowing blue and when he made eye contact, it roared and bared fangs, all like a werewolf. He looked down and noticed that there were claws on his free hand but the claws were bigger and thicker than he remembered seeing on Scott or Stiles. He didn't get to think anymore on it as it then took those claws and stabbed them right into his stomach.

Jordan cried out as the thing started to twist and turn them, tearing into his insides. [Jordan's eyes glowed a fiery orange](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_501_parrish_3.gif) as he glared painfully at the creature and its eyes went from blue to a matching orange as he stared back, smiling.

"Not a werewolf," he said through his fangs. "[But you're something](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_501_parrish_2.gif)." He then threw him to the ground.

Jordan's eyes weren't glowing anymore as he stared up as the creature was smiling maniacally and hungrily down to him. He was breathing heavily as he felt barely able to lift his head. It was like most of his energy was sapped from his body.

"No, you're no normal creature deputy, but then neither am I. Not tonight." The creature then held up his set of long claws to show that they were glowing blue and his eyes were back to glowing blue to match. "I'll let you live if you answer me one question. Where is Scott McCall?"

Jordan just glared at him. "Never heard of him," he panted out as he held onto his wound. He wouldn't tell this thing where Scott, or anyone else was.

The creature then slashed his claws at him, a light trail of blue light following after them as they moved.

* * *

On the road back into town there was a major traffic block. Cars were bumper to bumper and some people were standing outside their cars looking out to try and see how far the holdup was. Not too many as a light rain was starting to come down. One person was standing on top of her car though, holding her phone up into the air. Kira was trying to call Scott but there was no signal at all. She was shifting weight nervously from one foot to another.

Inside the car, her parents were hearing it and they shared a small look with each other. Noshiko decided to be the one this time and stuck her head out the window.

"Kira," she said as she looked up at her daughter waving her phone around. "Get back inside the car, please?"

Kira sighed but moved to jump off the roof and landed firmly on the ground. She straightened up as she noticed a guy standing close by with his phone out too. He then turned around and she saw that it was a [handsome looking guy](https://tribzap2it.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/theo-cody-christian-teen-wolf-season-5.jpg?w=1100) and he smiled at her.

"I'm not getting anything either," he said holding his phone up at her.

Kira smiled before she got back into her car. "We haven't moved in fifteen minutes. I'm going to be late."

Noshiko looked back over at her. "What is this thing you're going to anyway?"

"It's called Senior Scribe and I'm not supposed to tell you about it," she told her.

Noshiko then looked at her husband.

"Don't look at me," he quickly told her. "I don't know anything either. Sounds like they're supposed to write something or…" He shrugged his shoulders.

"It sounds like vandalism."

"It's not vandalism," Kira quickly said. "At least, I don't think it is." She then looked off to see nothing and no one still moving and Kira shook her head. "That's it, I'm going."

"What? You're going to walk?" her father asked skeptically.

"Yep," she said stepping out of the car. But then a clap of thunder rang out and the light rain turned into a heavy downpour and she got right back in. "In a few minutes."

* * *

When they got to the hospital, Stiles and Malia waited in the lobby while Scott took Liam up to see his father. Liam checked in with the receptionist and he found his way back to Scott.

"My dad is busy in surgery. He's not going to be done for hours. So, I'm either hanging out here or I could still go with you guys," he suggested a little hopefully.

Scott called for the elevator and then turned to Liam. "Show me your hands."

Liam deflated as he moved to reveal the cuts in his palms that had dried blood and were still bleeding a bit. "You knew."

"Yeah, we did. That's why Stiles is kind of pissed right now at you. You lied right to our faces."

"I'm sorry." He sighed. "Okay, so the truth is I'm still having trouble.

Scott shook his head. "No, you're still learning."

"Still? I mean, I thought that having an anchor was supposed to give you control and I have two. But, its still hard."

"Two, yeah. Your stepdad and Satomi's mantra."

"Well more like a memory of my stepdad teaching me his saying and one of Stiles teaching me the mantra. But, it's hard to focus on them. Satomi and her pack have been trying to teach me to learn focus and keep control with sparring. It's helping I guess and I've learned a lot. I thought I was getting it but…it's getting harder to stay focused for some reason."

Scott knew that Liam and Stiles were visiting and meeting with Satomi and her pack more and more, especially over the summer. Though he himself didn't find himself up for meeting Satomi as much as they did. But he saw that it was helping, even if he still didn't really like the fact that Liam was learning how to fight along with trying to learn control.

He shrugged that last bit away. "Well I would think it's hard to keep focus on specific memories. What do you do to try and not change when you can't?"

Liam pulled out his headphones. "But it's not working."

"It's working enough. Listen, Derek told me that you were one of the strongest that he'd ever seen at your age. Coming from him that means a lot. Maybe that means things are just gonna be harder for you for a while." The elevator got there and Scott stepped in. "But it also means something else, doesn't it?"

"That I'm really strong?"

Scott smiled. "Hell yeah." The elevator doors then started closing but he kept his gaze on Liam until they fully shut.

Scott got to the ground floor and moved off to the lobby. He got there and he sighed when he saw Stiles and Malia were sitting in the chairs by the front desk, lightly making out and dead to the world around them. They got a few looks from people passing by and the two nurses at the desk were trying to work like nothing was going on but Scott could smell their discomfort and unease. He guessed that the two of them were catching up with each other. Scott stood there, giving them a few more seconds, before he loudly cleared his throat. The two of them slowly broke away and Stiles moved to stand up as he straightened himself up.

"How it go?" he asked with a slightly winded voice.

"I think he's going to be fine." He then looked down to his phone and saw that there was still no service. "I still can't reach Kira though."

"When was the last time you talked to her?" asked Stiles.

"Uh…I don't know. Over a week ago."

Stiles' eyes widened. "A week?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to bother her while she was in New York," he explained.

Malia nodded. "It was great there."

Stiles gave a look before turning back to Scott. "Well, how did you leave things before you left?"

Scott shrugged. "I just said don't worry and go have fun."

"Go have…no, Scott you didn't."

Scott's face fell. "What? What's wrong?"

Stiles turned to Malia. "Malia, if before you had left, I had told you "Don't worry, go have fun." What would you think I was talking about?"

"Uh, fun like bowling or sex with other guys?"

Stiles then turned to Scott and his eyes widened.

"Okay, yeah. Now I'm worried."

He tried to call Kira again but Stiles pulled him back as a pair of gurneys came through, each carrying a wounded patient.

"That's five in the last twenty minutes," Stiles told him.

Scott then spotted his mom following after them. "Mom, where's all this coming from?" he asked as she passed them.

She stopped to look back at him. "A jackknifed tractor-trailer on 115. Caused a major pileup."

"Uh, okay there is only one way back into Beacon Hills from the airport," said Stiles.

"115," Scott breathed. Kira was no doubt stuck in that pileup.

Stiles dropped his head down a bit. "Kira's never going to make it."

But Scott shook his head. "I can get her." He then moved for the entrance. "You guys head to the school. Lydia's probably already there. We'll meet you by midnight."

"How are you gonna get to her in the middle of a traffic jam?" he called after him.

Scott turned to look back at him. "We'll make it. Trust me."

He then went out.

* * *

Over at the McCall house, the creature that attacked Parrish crashed in through the living room window, sending shattered glass all over the floor. He sniffed the air around the house and looked up at the ceiling.

"No one home."

He walked down to the kitchen and saw that there was a note written on a pad on the fridge. He pulled the paper off and read the message.

**Senior Scribe Tonight. I'll be back by 12:30. Scott.**

He then left to head to the high school.

* * *

A/N: Well, there you have it. I had to make a few changes to things with the changes I made for what everyone was doing during the summer. I also decided to not include the Lydia stuff from this episode because I want to keep everything that goes on this year fresh with the timeline.


	4. Creatures of the Night 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott get to Kira and they race to the school but run into some trouble with a surprise guest. Scott and Stiles are reunited with someone from their past who isn't what they exactly remember. Senior Scribe begins.

Noah was in his office and looked over at his watch to see that it had been a little over two hours since Parrish had left. He thought he would've checked in by now and he couldn't help but feel concerned. However, his concern vanished when he heard shouting outside his door. He looked outside to see two deputies dragging in someone who was shouting and trying to pull himself free.

"What the hell?" he shouted as they pushed him against a ledge. "Are you trying to break my arm?"

The deputy behind him then tightened her hold on his arms. "Keep struggling and I'll be aiming for a compound fracture," she spat at him.

Noah sighed. It was Donovan Donati, his former partner's son and he was being manhandled by Valerie Clark, one of his newest deputies.

"Donovan," he said sternly but still trying to be gentle. "You forgot what the judge said, didn't you? Next time is jail time."

Donovan's face paled a bit. "Stilinski? Please, come on," he said pleadingly.

Noah looked over at Clark. "What's he in for?"

"B and E," she said. "And he was carrying a .38."

Noah let his gaze drop a bit. Donovan started to get more nervous.

"It wasn't mine. Sheriff, it wasn't mine," Donovan tried to explain.

Donovan had been getting into some sporadic bouts of trouble since his father's…injury. He'd had a few domestic disturbance and assault charges to his name since then. Noah had tried to cut the kid some slack whenever they popped up but when he became a legal adult over a year ago, he hadn't stopped. Now, it looked like it was getting serious. Carrying around a gun as he was breaking and entering and no doubt leaning towards armed robbery. Noah realized Donovan was getting worse and he couldn't keep letting it go anymore. His father would understand why he had to do what he was about to.

"Book him," he told his deputies.

Donovan's expression quickly changed from apologetic to livid. "Oh, you're dead," he hissed out at him. He started being carried off by the deputies but saw that the Sheriff wasn't looking at him. That only made him angrier. "Hey, look at me! You're dead! Do you hear me?! You're dead!"

The deputies only carried him off faster for the holding cells. Donovan's threats started carrying themselves off through the station that some of the people stopped what they were doing. Noah noticed that they were either awkwardly listening to Donovan's shouting or looking at him. His own face hardened.

"Can anyone tell me why the hell Parrish isn't back yet?!" he shouted out to drown out Donovan's own shouting.

* * *

Scott quickly ran off to his house and headed straight up for his room to grab his helmet and his keys for his bike. He then started to quickly run down the stairs when there was a bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder following it. Scott stopped at the foot of the staircase as it sounded louder than he expected. He then felt a small breeze and he looked over to find that the shades were flapping violently on one of the windows. For a moment, he thought that his mom had left the window open by accident but he froze when he saw the broken glass spilled on the floor in front of it.

"Aw, man," Scott muttered as he moved away.

He then heard a small scratching sound and then sound of something falling coming from the kitchen. Scott ran off, thinking that someone must've broken into his home and was trying to leave when they heard him. Scott was a second away from shifting to ward away the intruder but stopped when he saw the source of the scratching. It was a small black bird that flying against the wall, frantically flapping its wings as it flew across the counter and was knocking some envelopes loose. He saw that there was a broken coffee mug on the ground where they fell and realized that had been the source of the noise he heard.

"A bird," he sighed in relief. Scott let his senses branch out and didn't detect anyone else in the house and it didn't look like anything was burgled or ruined. He then looked at the window whose drapes was still flapping from the heavy winds. "I guess it was the storm," he thought out loud. Scott guessed that the high winds sent a rock or maybe even the bird into the window and shattered it.

Scott then went over to try and catch the bird, which he saw was a raven upon closer inspection. It flapped it wings and soared higher to go out of his reach and Scott started to try jumping in order to grab it and send it off. The raven moved to try and fly over the space above the fridge and Scott moved to try and catch it but almost slipped. On the floor were the refrigerator magnets and papers and photos they had hung and he had nearly slipped on one of them. He quickly opened the kitchen door and the raven moved to fly out of it and Scott quickly shut the door after it did.

Scott looked down on the mess on the floor. "Oh man, I so don't have time for this," he mumbled to himself as he bent down and started to quickly clean up. He gathered the fallen envelops and broken mug pieces. He then got to the magnets and tried to attach them back but they weren't sticking. They just fell right back to the floor as soon as he let them go. Scott then grabbed the paper he almost slipped on and found that it was the note he had left his mother reminding her about Senior Scribe. He narrowed his eyes a bit when he saw that there were holes in the notes. They were small and were shaped a little oddly. He moved his fingers a bit and then squeezed on the paper to find that his fingertips lined up with the holes perfectly. He was brought out of his trance when the magnets suddenly flew off the floor and stuck back onto the fridge.

He then shook his head a bit. "Get a grip Scott," he mumbled to himself. His nerves were probably still wound up from the earlier lightning scare and his talk with Stiles. He couldn't let himself get paranoid.

But he stiffened when all the electronics around him started to go haywire. The hands of the clock on the wall started to spin like crazy. The microwave started beeping on and off every other second. There was then a bright bolt of lightning outside followed by a crack of thunder that shook the house. The radio in the next room turned on and started playing loud music through the house and the lights started flickering on and off. Some things fell from the shelves and a chair even fell back.

Scott was now feeling more than paranoid. He was freaked out.

* * *

Jordan gasped as he started to regain consciousness. The first thing he noticed was that his chest felt like it was on fire. He blinked his eyes and looked down to see that there was a deep claw wound cut right into the center of his chest and it was slowly bleeding. Not only did it hurt so badly that he barely was able to get himself to sit back against the wall but it was smoking. It was as if the wound was burning like it was on fire.

He moved his hand and took hold of his radio. "Dispatch," he breathed. "Officer...officer down."

But all he got in return was high pitched static. The kind that his lingering rational mind identified as interference. No one but the Stilinski knew he was there but the Sheriff had sent him to deal with a noise complaint and wouldn't think anything was wrong any time soon. He might bleed out long before anyone found him.

"Jordan," he suddenly heard. "I'm here."

' _I know that voice,'_  he thought as he blinked and looked about.

He detected movement and turned his gaze over and found that it was Lydia. She was walking over for him and then kneel to be right in front of him.

"I'm right here," she said gently to him.

Jordan found himself feeling calmer as he stared at Lydia's gentle face. He caught her eyes just as she moved her hand and softly ran it over his bleeding wound. He let himself lean back and relax into her touch. When her fingers made contact, the pain in his chest seemed to numb itself into a hard ache. He wasn't blind to the fact that Lydia Martin was beautiful but he never dwelled on it as she was younger than him and still in school. Yet, as he stared at her, all that was the furthest from his mind. All he knew was the sight of her was breathtaking. They hadn't broken eye contact and Lydia started to slowly lean herself closer to him.

"Stay with me," she muttered as she leaned in closer.

[Her eyes started to close as their faces became inches apart](https://media0.giphy.com/media/11INbdrTR0nlMA/giphy.gif). Jordan found his own eyes starting to shut as he tilted his head a bit to meet Lydia's lips as she leaned in. They were mere centimeters apart when he heard another voice.

"Parrish?" he heard sound out like a distant echo.

Jordan blinked and found that Lydia was now gone and there was a bright beam of light pointing at him. It was from a flashlight and it was coming closer as he heard the person call out his name again, this time a bit clearer and sounding frantic. He blinked as the person's face came into a blurry focus and saw that it was the Sheriff. He was horrified at the sight of him and ran over to him. That was all Jordan could make out before he passed out.

Noah had been without any answers for where Parrish had been so he decided to go out looking for him himself. He decided to retrace his deputy's tracks and went to where he had sent him first. He had relieved when he saw Parrish's van in the front of the house but then got suspicious for what could be keeping him. He saw the house's front door was wide open and quickly ran inside. He frantically searched until he reached the basement and he quickly made out the scattered rubble on the floor before finding Parrish bleeding on the floor. He had to get him help and he knew who to get it from.

The doctors crowded him the moment that he moved into the hospital with Parrish sprawled on his shoulder.

"Sheriff, what happened?!" one of them cried as he ran to him.

"Get me Melissa McCall," he ordered them.

Liam was sitting off to the side, waiting on his stepdad who he saw with Scott's mom as they were talking over a medical chart on his clipboard. He couldn't hear what they were saying because he still had the earphones in his ears. He was letting his mind wander off so he was thrown when he looked up and saw that the two of them were now talking with a new doctor and they seemed frantic. He pulled the earphones out of his ears but Scott's mom was running off down the hall, following the other doctor.

"Hey dad," Liam asked going over to him. "Is something up?"

"Oh, the Sheriff just came in with a wounded deputy and he asked for Melissa specifically."

"Stiles' dad?" mumbled Liam.

The doors of an empty operating room flew open as Noah and Melissa were dragging Parrish in and laid him on the table.

"I thought you said you were going to keep him on desk duty," she said almost scolding.

"It was just a minor noise complaint," he said in defense.

Melissa looked down to get a better look at the wounds. Or lack thereof. "He's not on fire, is he?"

Noah shook his head. "Not that I know of. He definitely looks better than he did when I found him."

The claw marks seemed to have been reduced to scaring. It looked as if his flesh had been heated and melted to seal the incisions. There was also a subtle hint of smoke coming off him. It was a lot different from what they had seen with Scott and Stiles when they had been injured.

"Maybe it's a part of his healing process," she guessed.

They still didn't know what Parrish even was. Neither did their sons, their friends, Argent or even Deaton. No one seemed to. It was a total mystery.

Before any of them could say anything else, Parrish rose up from the table, startling them. He moved to get to his feet and Noah quickly pulled out his gun while he moved to shield Melissa behind him. [Parrish was staring straight at him with glowing orange eyes](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/teenwolf/images/7/7f/Teen_Wolf_Season05_Episode_1_creatures_of_the_night_Deputy_Parrish_waking_up_at_hospital.png/revision/latest?cb=20150702164546). He was heavily breathing but he was just standing there, breathing deeply as he stared the Sheriff down. After a moment, the light in Parrish's eyes dimmed away and they were back to normal.

Melissa moved to lightly put Noah's hand down to lower his gun. "It's okay. It's okay," she told him gently. Once the gun was pointed safely to the ground, she looked up at Parrish who seemed to be taking deep breaths and blinking his eyes. "You alright deputy?"

Jordan felt his senses coming back to him and looked down at his chest. He lightly grazed at his wounds to find that they had mostly healed from when he had been attacked. As the memory came back to him, he gasped out Scott's name. "We need to find Scott."

"Scott, why?" Melissa quickly asked.

"Because this guy is after him."

"Oh god." The next minute Melissa then pulled out her phone. "Damn. There's no service," she said frantically.

"Because of the storm," Noah explained. He took another look at his deputy's wound. "Parrish, what the hell happened to you at that house? Who attacked you? A werewolf?"

But Jordan shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"What do you mean?" asked Melissa.

"His claws were different. More like talons."

"Talons?" said Noah.

Melissa straightened a bit. "If that's the worst part, that doesn't sound too bad."

"It's worse," Jordan breathed. "They did something to me. I don't know how to describe it other than it felt as if the life was being drawn out of me through them. Through the claws."

That freaked Melissa out. "And now he's looking for Scott?"

"Which got me thinking about what this guy can do. The rule is to kill an Alpha in order to steal their power, right?"

Noah remembered what his son told him about this. "Yeah, that's usually how it is but I bet its different for Scott. You can't steal a True Alpha's power." That was because Scott didn't get his power by killing another Alpha for it.

Jordan's jaw tightened. "I think that this guy can. We have to warn him."

Outside the room, Liam's eyes widened in shock. He had gone looking for them and had started listening in on their conversation. Scott was at the high school with Stiles, Malia and the others and he didn't know what was coming for him. None of them did. He had to warn them. So he went and took off to do just that.

* * *

The rain was still pouring hard as the cars on the road had hardly moved at all since the heavy downpour had started. Kira was getting irritated as her nerves and impatience at the stalled traffic was building. It didn't help when her father started to try and kill the silence.

"You know, there is a legend for a storm like this," he started.

"Dad," Kira sighed. "Please don't turn a three hour traffic jam into an educational experience."

Noshiko looked over to the rear view mirror to glimpse her daughter. "He's talking about the Wild Hunt. About the Ghost Riders." That seemed to make Kira stiffen and look off to catch her mother's eyes in the mirror. Noshiko continued. "Imagine a night like this Kira, in storm clouds just like these, phantom hunters would appear riding black horses with blood-red eyes and wolves and hounds at their side, baying and snarling."

Kira felt a small chill crawl up her spine. "What were they hunting?" she asked, tensely.

Her mother was silent for a moment before she answered with just one powerful word.

"Souls."

The atmosphere was so thick that they jumped when they heard a hard roar of a motorcycle engine.

"Noshiko?" Kira's dad asked.

Kira knew that sound. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

But she didn't wait for an answer as she opened the door and threw herself out.

"Kira!" her mother called after her.

But Kira didn't stop and she stepped out into the rain. Out in the road there was a motorcycle riding in through the space between the cars, heading in her direction. Kira started running towards it as it kept heading for her.

As she ran in the rain, [she passed by a teen that took special notice](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PositiveEnlightenedBirdofparadise-small.gif) of what was happening and cracked his window down a bit.

Kira kept running as the bike stopped a couple of yards away from her. It's rider pulled their helmet off and she saw Scott's face looking down at her as she finally got to him.

"Did you have fun in New York?" he asked as soon as she got to him.

She smiled as she shook her head slightly. "Not really," she said a little breathlessly.

Scott smiled at her. "Good," he sighed in relief.

[Then he grabbed at her chin and pulled her in for a kiss](https://66.media.tumblr.com/8ad82ae2039717e7589bace3ea5cb8c4/tumblr_okx2leuvbY1r6keqwo3_500.gif). Over a week without seeing or speaking to each other fueled into it.

Back in the car, Kira's parents noticed what was going on and they shared an exasperated but amused look.

After they had finished, Scott moved Kira to sit behind him on his bike so they can head to the school. As they took off, the boy from before let a small smirk loose as he watched them disappear off into the distance. He then looked off at the two in the front seat.

"I'm going to head off on foot from here. I'll probably be late getting back tonight. Don't wait up," he finished with a polite smile.

"Okay Theo," the woman up front said with a too eager smile.

"Have fun," the man behind the wheel said very enthusiastically.

"Oh, I will," he said before he opened his door.

Scott rode them off through the gap in the cars, through the jam and made it back into Beacon Hills limits where he then sped off for the high school. Compared to the highway, the streets were actually low in traffic and Scott was making good time. He and Kira would make it to the school in time for Scribe with the others. Stiles had been going over this not with him but Lydia, Malia and Kira before she took off with her parents, making sure that they all were there. He had been obsessing over this night for almost two weeks. Not on the same level as his 'vision' for after graduation but it was in the area.

With Peter and Kate locked away, and no new hunters or assassins coming around, Scott had hoped that he could finally have his focus back on just being a regular high school kid. Focus on school and having Kira as his girlfriend and not worry about any werewolf stuff getting in the way. It didn't turn out to be that easy or simple though. Not with Liam and Stiles in tow.

With everything having settled down, he hoped Liam would be able to adjust and be free of the stress of losing control of himself. But it turned out that even with this new peace, he still had to stay on his toes with Liam. The kid still had difficulty with control even with an anchor and managing his anger. Stiles then thought that Satomi might be able to help as she had Brett and his sister Lori as well as other young betas their age, at least before the Deadpool, but she had experience with teaching young werewolves. While he didn't like how Liam occasionally went through having sparring drills against members of her pack, Liam claimed that it was helping him learn. He did notice Liam showing great improvement in the last six months…save for his little  _slip up_. Hopefully, this would mean his sophomore year would end up better than Scott's had. After tonight, he might not need to worry about Liam much.

Then there was Stiles. He had been visiting Satomi and her pack a lot that summer from what Liam had told him and a good bit of those visits involved him sparring far more than Liam, even going against Satomi. It even looked like he was trying to learn to hone in more of a werewolf's power from the Alpha and he often tried to talk Scott into joining but he found himself making excuses not to. Scott couldn't help but start to worry that Stiles might be getting too caught up in the supernatural and wasn't even going to try and be normal anymore. Scott couldn't remember the last time that he and Stiles hung out and did normal stuff like play video games or watch a movie. At least without the supernatural weaving their way in somehow. Scott could remember his friend's 'Turniversary' idea when he wanted to mark when they had been turned. Even Stiles' 'vision' for after graduation didn't seem to be leaving room for them to try and be normal as he quickly shot down his extra roommate suggestion by glowing his eyes at him.

That's why he wanted to make sure this night went right for him. It was actually something normal Stiles was putting real care in for once. Lately, Scott felt that most of his time was spent on trying on pretend to be normal. But with Senior Scribe, they could relax and actually be normal with all the other seniors of the school. Maybe after tonight, with school starting again, along with them reining as co-captains of the lacrosse team, Stiles would let his focus start to come away from the supernatural and back to normal stuff.

"Looks like we're going to make it," Kira called out behind him.

"Yeah," Scott sighed as they saw the lights of the school peeking through the rain.

When they made it, they ran for cover to get away from the rain that hadn't let up the whole time they had been out.

"Where are they?" Kira said, laughing a bit as she wiped the rain from her face. "Are we too late?"

Scott checked his watch and found that it wasn't quite midnight yet. He shook his head. "No, they're just not here yet."

She looked up to see that there was a big toothy smile up on Scott's face. "What are you smiling at?" she asked him.

"You," he answered.

That made Kira move to kiss him and they tumbled back until they were against a wall. They began to make out for a bit when Kira pulled back suddenly. She thought she heard a growl but it didn't sound like it came from Scott. Scott narrowed his eyes before he heard it too.

They then turned and saw someone pushing through the falling water beyond their cover. He brandished his fangs as well his very large talons. He roared at them before he launched for them.

* * *

When Scott left them at the hospital, Stiles brought Malia to his jeep and they drove off for the school. But they didn't go in right away. They stayed in the car, lightly kissing and playfully laughing with each other while the rain pounded outside. Malia went and pulled away slightly.

"Hey, I'm going to come over tonight."

"Yeah?" Stiles panted out a bit as he let his fingers dance over her cheek.

She nodded. "I did have fun with my dad these last few weeks but it got lonely when it came time to sleep. I missed you having you there with me," she said softly.

Stiles backed a bit to gaze at her face, her eyes better. "Yeah…I missed you too." Sleeping always did seem to come easier and better when he had Malia with him. And recently, he had a good share of restless nights. "But, you just got back today. Won't your dad be upset you just came back with me without asking him?"

"No, I did. When we were heading out to meet you. I told him not to wait up for me tonight because I was going to stay with you after."

Stiles raised his eyebrows surprisingly at that. "And he was okay with it?"

Malia shrugged. "Well he kinda was upset at first. But I told him that I really missed you and how better it always made me feel after I slept with you. Before I could finish asking, he said I could as long as I didn't keep talking about it."

' _I bet_ ,' Stiles thought as he nervously scratched at the back of his head.

Mr. Tate would've found that she was causing him to visualize something uncomfortable about him and his daughter even though she meant that they more often just slept in the same bed together. Malia often didn't realize how awkward she worded things sometimes.

But Stiles found it adorable and funny at times and let a small giggle loose. "Okay then, but, I get to be the big spoon tonight." Stiles rose his left eyebrow a bit flirtatiously.

She gave him a toothy smile. "Uh…we'll see." They moved to share another kiss but broke apart when a car went and parked in the spot next to them. The people in there came out and cheered as they ran off for the school through the pouring rain. "Maybe we should head on in now?"

"Yeah," he breathed.

They quickly threw themselves out of the jeep and made for cover. They stayed to the side as they observed all the other seniors running for shelter but in seemingly high spirits.

"Wow," Malia said as she saw the smiles and eager expressions on all the seniors' faces. "Can you smell that?"

"Yeah," Stiles mumbled. "They're all excited." Even with this hard and heavy rain, he could detect the excitable emotions coming off all of them when he sniffed the air. They were all eager for Senior Scribe.

He turned towards the front doors and caught sight of pair of seniors who went and gave each other a high five before lowering their hands for a fist bump. No doubt something only for them being best friends. It reminded him of the one that he and Scott had made last year but he couldn't remember the last time they ever did it. The two senior guys then went on into the school and Stiles couldn't help but let his shoulders slump.

While Stiles was distracted by the scene, Malia had taken out her phone and texted Lydia and asked where she was. She quickly responded back that she was already there. She quickly responded that she and Stiles were too right before her nose crinkled. She took some sniffs and realized it was Stiles. His chemo signal completely changed. She wasn't hiding the sniffing though and it made Stiles turn around and startled the both of them.

"You smell terrible all of a sudden."

Every guy wanted his girlfriend to say that to them. "Gee thanks," he sighed. "It's called anxiety. I'm anxious. It seems to be a normal thing for me these days so you should probably get used to it," he trailed off.

"What's wrong?" She looked back at all the seniors heading into the school. "Is it because Scott and Kira aren't here yet?"

"No, well, I guess that's part of it."

"Why is all this so important to you?"

"It's not," he said. Malia then gave him a look that said that she clearly didn't believe that. He rolled his eyes. "Okay, maybe a little. But…I don't know. I'm worried if it'll feel as great as I thought it would."

"What do you mean?"

He dropped his gaze from her a bit. "I asked my dad about his high school friends a little while back. Guess how many he still talks to?" But he didn't give her a chance to guess. "[None. Not a single one.](http://reallylatereviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/tumblr_nqqfs08igI1tjt9hmo1_250.gif) You know, these were his best friends and he says that he just lost touch with them. And I even talked with Satomi and her second Wilson about their high school friends; basically the same happened with them. Then I started thinking, you know like I usually do."

Malia nodded. "Obsessively."

"Yeah," he nodded back. "Why is it expected that we're all supposed to just go our separate ways after we graduate? I've already found the people that matter most to me and I don't want to lose touch with them. But I've started to worry that maybe they might sort of be telling me the truth."

She remembered how worried he was back at the hospital when Scott left to go get Kira. "You're talking about Scott."

"You know, we've been friends since fourth grade. Scott's been not just my best friend, he's like my brother. Lately though, I can't help but feel that we're already starting to drift away. Just like my dad and his friends from high school. So…I can't help but start thinking that [maybe Scott and I are friends now but what if we're not friends for life](http://reallylatereviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/tumblr_nqqfs08igI1tjt9hmo6_250.gif)?"

Those thoughts have been wracking his mind in the last few days. This summer, they didn't really hang with or see each other too much, unlike last summer where they saw and hung out constantly. True, Scott was busy with summer school, his internship at the hospital and working at the clinic while Stiles had been spending a lot of time with Malia, Satomi and her pack, along with Liam. Yet Stiles found he hadn't even noticed the change until a few days ago.

"But doesn't that just happen sometimes?" asked Malia, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, it does because we just let it happen. You know, if I've already found the best people in my life then why don't I just try to stay with them?"

"Well, I thought that was the plan. The dream."

"The vision. And don't mock the vision."

"I…I like the vision." Malia then moved up to him. "Especially if I'm part of it." Stiles brought his eyes to look square at hers. "So that's why you wanted everyone here together tonight? You don't want to lose your friends."

"And I hope they don't want to lose me either."

Looking back, the last year seemed to feel like he and Scott's rhythm had done a 180. He couldn't help but wonder if Scott noticed the change…and if he even cared as much as he did. Especially after their argument earlier tonight, and him now getting angry over upset whenever Scott flinches away from his eyes. After being with so many people, strangers, having no problems looking him in his 'eyes' the last couple of months, he couldn't help but get angry his best friend couldn't. Derek had told him that Scott would get over it and just needed time. Stiles didn't know how long he was expecting to wait.

Malia started to move in closer to him. "Well I know I don't."

Stiles felt the weight on his chest get lighter and his face softened a bit. The two of them let their eyes catch each other for a moment in a gentle stare before they moved to catch each other's lips again. [Stiles moved to wrap his arms around Malia while she moved her hands to rub against his cheek and the back of his neck as they lightly made out against the hard rain coming down around them](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AfraidBlushingInvisiblerail-size_restricted.gif). But, Malia suddenly jerked herself away.

"Mal?" Stiles asked as she suddenly looked tense.

"Someone's coming," she told him. "Someone fast."

He narrowed his eyes as he let his senses branch out. "Yeah, you're right," he mumbled. But then he caught a familiar scent. "Wait," he cried, but it was too late.

A fraction of a second after he called that out, [Malia had moved in and threw her hand out to intercept who ran up to them and pinned him to the ground](https://data.whicdn.com/images/266634079/original.gif).

Liam's back slammed flat into the pavement. "Ahh," he cried out as Malia's hand crushed him.

Stiles took a step back. "Liam? What are you doing here?" He was supposed to be at the hospital.

Liam looked up at them. "Scott's in trouble," he grunted out through the pressure that Malia was still holding him down with.

Stiles' eyes widened. "What the hell are you talking about?!" He reached down and went to pull Liam to his feet.

"Your dad. He brought Parrish to the hospital. He was attacked and I heard him tell him and Scott's mom that the guy is looking for him to want to take his power. Where is he? I thought he was with you guys."

"Scott left to get Kira," Malia told him before turning back to Stiles. "Do you think they made it?"

Their ears then picked up an echo of a howl through the rain and they stiffened. It sounded like it came from around the other end of the courtyard.

"I think so," Stiles grunted before he took off in a run with Malia and Liam on his tail.

* * *

Scott shifted and he stood his ground as this unknown werewolf stomped over for him. He tried to cut off his attacker's advance with a swipe of his claws but the guy answered with a swipe of his talons. They managed to cut through Scott's defense and had him tumbling back in pain.

Kira quickly moved for her metallic belt and thrust it out of the loops and hit the hidden trigger. The links came together and it turned into her [custom sword](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/teenwolf/images/b/b9/Teen_Wolf_Season05_Episode_1_creatures_of_the_night_Kira_drawing_her_sword_.png/revision/latest?cb=20150702163248) that she and her parents made for her. She cut the air a few times, getting a feel for her new weapon as she never had the chance to use it before. Yet her opponent didn't seem worried as he smirked at her as she pointed her weapon at him. She moved to strike at him but he stepped away and then ducked away her next attack. He struck at her with his talons but Kira sidestepped and avoided it by a hair. She quickly spun and sent a slash at the guy's head but he growled as he ducked away from it. He came up behind her and sent another slash at her and his talons managed to make contact. Kira cried out in pain as she fell face first into a large puddle on the ground.

After he struck down Kira, he turned to look down at Scott who was writhing a bit on the ground. "A True Alpha?" he mocked. "Where's your power Scott?"

The next moment, Scott rose his head up to face him. "Who are you?' Scott spat.

The guy growled. "A devoted fan. Show me the man that defeated Deucalion and Gerard Argent. I came for that Alpha. Come on!" he roared out in challenge.

Scott answered with a hard roar as threw himself to his feet and moved to send two slashes at his upper arms and sent a hard kick to his face. The guy took a step back but quickly shrugged it off. He just leered at Scott before starting to move for him. Scott quickly swiped and clawed at his face and it made him flinch in pain. Scott then tried to swipe at him again but the guy moved to catch and lock his hand under his left arm before moving his right to grab at Scott's throat. He then moved and threw Scott against the opposite wall where he then lifted him up by his throat and tightened it harder to cut off his air.

He then threw Scott to the ground when Kira screamed as she came at him with her sword again. She thrust her blade but he moved making her miss and the blade bounced off the wall. She tried to make a spin slash at him but he swiped it away before he moved to grab her wrist. He squeezed it, making her gasp out in pain, before he threw her away.

He then turned back to Scott. "I didn't come just to claim your status." He then brought up the hand with the talons as they glowed bright blue. It was unspoken. He came to claim his life.

But then a figure jumped down from the other end of the terrace and his roared filled the air. He then ran off to the wall next to them and bounced off it before he made a swipe at the enemy and made him flinch back. Scott blinked, and for a second, he thought it might be Stiles. [Yet, he could see the glow of golden yellow eyes](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_501_theo_wolf_2.gif) which meant that it wasn't him. This new guy moved and then sent a claw strike right at the guy's right thigh and made him bend down in pain. But the guy grabbed him before he could make another attack and threw him off to the side like he did Kira.

Scott moved to stand up but the guy moved his talons in and stabbed them through Scott's chest. [Scott groaned out as the guy pushed his talons further into him.](https://www.purefandom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Screen-Shot-2015-06-30-at-10.50.38.png) He blinked as the crimson glow of his eyes started to dim. The guy happily snarled as Scott could see a bit of red start to seep into his eyes. The more his own eyes dimmed, the brighter red this guy's eyes seem to get. His legs were rocking and they began to give out as Kira and the new guy tried to move to their feet.

But then Stiles, Liam and Malia ran into the terrace and they eyes widened at the sight of Scott being held up at clawpoint. The three of them quickly shifted and gave a collected roar that made the guy's head snap over to them in surprise at the three new shapeshifters ready to challenge him. The roar also seemed to stimulate Scott. He felt a fire burn in through his ears that seemed to go right to his eyes. They started to glow bright red again and Scott growled under his breath making the guy turn his gaze back on him again. Scott then moved his hand to the guy's wrist and gave it a hard twist. It was so strong that it broke it and made the bone start to stick out. He pulled away as he took a knee and whimpered in pain. The talons had come off and were still stuck in Scott's chest but [he moved and pulled them out and threw them to the ground](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DismalDazzlingAmethystgemclam-size_restricted.gif).

Scott then stood over to speak down to him. "I don't know who you are or what you thought you were going to do but I'll give you a choice. You can stay and I'll break something else. Or you can run." Normally, Scott wouldn't resort to something like this but he found he didn't care right now. This was supposed to be a normal night with his friends and this guy tried to ruin it. Scott was beyond pissed.

"I'd run," Stiles spoke out. He then snarled before he lifted his foot and slammed it down on the pavement making a small crack on impact. "Far and fast." Malia and Liam snarled themselves as they stood on either side of him.

The guy looked over to gaze at each one of them before he got up and quickly hightailed out of there. As he ran off, Scott got up and Kira moved to him and held her hand out in concern. Stiles and the others moved over to them, each shifting their faces back to normal, with Scott going back after all of them. But they then turned to look at the newcomer, who had his face back to normal too. Stiles narrowed his eyes as his face came into focus. Malia felt something in her chest twist and fall to her stomach at the sight of him. Kira immediately remembered him as the kid from the highway. Liam was just plain confused.

[He smiled as he stepped over to the group.](http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/39200000/Theo-rain-sequence-theo-raeken-cody-christian-39224792-268-138.gif) He looked over at Scott. "You don't remember me, do you? I guess I look a little different since fourth grade."

At the mention of fourth grade, Scott's eyes widened. An image of a short haired boy came to him whose smile seemed to mirror this guy's. "Theo?" he gasped out in shock.

Theo nodded and he gave them a toothy smile.

Malia looked over at Scott. "You know him?"

"They used to," he said. "Trust me, I never thought I'd see you guys again." He looked from Scott to Stiles whose face was a bit blank. "A couple of months ago, I heard of an Alpha in Beacon Hills. When I found out his name was Scott McCall, just couldn't believe it." He looked back at Scott and his smile widened. "[And not just an Alpha, but a True Alpha](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_501_theo_president.gif)," he said in slight adulation.

Scott swallowed a bit at the praise before he nodded. "What do you want?"

"I came back to Beacon Hills, back home with my family, because I want to be a part of your pack." Stiles' eyes were now narrowed in suspicion while Scott's eyes had widened in surprise. "It's okay. [You don't have to give me an answer yet.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/c6fdd5ec709ce17cb26d6882acaac78f/tumblr_nt64guH0LE1uyzmxko7_250.gif) I guess it isn't the best time right now but I'll be around and you can give me an answer when you're ready."

He then moved to head on out as they all watched him disappear into the rain. As the water poured over him, he let a smirk creep on him. He had ran to the school from the highway and had arrived just in time to make a good first impression with Scott. He seemed happy to see an old friend again though, he could tell that Stiles wasn't as quickly taken but that's to be expected. The important thing was the doctor's first project played his part well. He can only guess what was going to happen to him now but Theo didn't care less. The guy's job was done.

* * *

Soon, after Scott told Liam to head back to the hospital and tell his mother and the Sheriff that he was alright, they headed into the school. Stiles started speaking as soon as they got through the front doors.

"Scott, we haven't seen this kid in years and now suddenly he's back and is a werewolf, you don't find that highly suspicious?"

"I'm kind of more concerned about the guy who just tried to kill me," Scott said back.

"Yeah," Kira said behind the boys making them turn to look at her and Malia. "And what was he? What kind of werewolf has talons?"

"We probably should've asked him before we let him get away," Malia suggested.

"There you are!" They turned over to look at Lydia approaching them. "Where have you guys been? The whole senior class is here. Are we doing this or not?"

The four of them sighed before they turned to head on off. [Stiles hooked his arm over Malia while Scott hooked his over Kira who hooked in Lydia as they walked.](https://data.whicdn.com/images/298381851/original.gif) The issues of this new attacker and Theo could wait. Right now, they had Senior Scribe.

In the library, the seniors had gathered and lined up as they moved some books off the book cases to expose the surface of the shelves. There was writing on some of them and they moved the books off to free up the space that was still free and clean. They began to inscribe their initials in permanent marker before they passed it over and moved off to let the next one do it.

When it got to Stiles' turn he moved to find a spot. His eyes fell on a D.H. inscribed. He sighed as he moved his finger to dance over it and he had a momentary flash. He saw the image of the young Derek Hale excitedly take a marker from his friend and verbally claim it was his turn. He then bent down and wrote in his initials. He then smiled off at his friends as he went to pass the marker down to the next person. Stiles blinked as he found himself staring back down at his own hands.

"Stiles?" Lydia asked from behind him. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he sighed. He gave his head a shake before [he moved and wrote in M.S.](http://31.media.tumblr.com/6d8889cf966f2c32049dd7b4ad4ac2db/tumblr_nqqcxsRHvM1qkro5no3_540.gif) in what he felt was a good spot before passing the pen to Lydia.

She found a spot and [wrote L.M.](http://45.media.tumblr.com/c9d2539ef10b7a869b689a843f2efe48/tumblr_nqqpjtmZP51t27ahco3_500.gif) in a good clear font before handing the pen over to Kira.

She thought of the talk with her parents earlier. "This isn't vandalism, is it?"

Lydia tilted her head a bit. "Not technically."

Kira then wrote [K.Y.](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_501_senior_scribe_1.gif) right below Lydia's initials before passing it to Malia. Malia went and placed an M next to theirs but stopped. Her initials for her name but Malia had two names, as she remembered what it had listed her as in the Deadpool. Yet, her time with her father came to mind, as well as his parting wink to her made a small smile creep onto her and [she finished with a solid T](http://45.media.tumblr.com/16266548c82356451cd8104a2d5f8f1c/tumblr_nqqpjtmZP51t27ahco5_500.gif).

Scott then moved to write in his initials, S.M. but he lingered on it. [He then moved to write A.A. below it](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PettyFamiliarFirefly-size_restricted.gif)[.](https://media2.giphy.com/media/SsfwAuPzsDZSg/giphy.gif) His friends had been standing behind him and they saw what he had wrote and knew who it was for, Allison.

Lydia caught his eye. "She's still with us you know," she told him.

Scott nodded. "Yeah, I do. And she always will be."

[They all just stood there, ](https://em.wattpad.com/5299ed300ac6bd3e5ab1f1f870c03113ecfc7bb7/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f66477634515253653558746149673d3d2d3433383234353833392e313464313866366464653932653465623736363638373337353437352e676966?s=fit&w=720&h=720)silently staring off at it. [Scott wrapped his arm around Kira and they looked at it together as they embraced](https://66.media.tumblr.com/bf750eb04dcc0b472f1a3c649ebf3485/tumblr_p3n1u0VuCl1qjlvr2o1_500.gif). He turned his head slightly to see that Stiles was staring at him, with a blank look on his face. Scott couldn't read it and he didn't know what was going through his friend's mind. In truth, Stiles didn't either because he didn't know how to feel. Allison will always be a sour subject for him.

Scott then began to move off with Kira to head on out. Malia moved to follow them but Stiles stayed put.

"I'll catch up in a second," he told her. Malia nodded before she headed off and he looked over at the guy who had the pen. "Can I have that for a sec?"

The guy gave a nod and handed it to him. Stiles then moved to where he saw [Derek's initials](http://33.media.tumblr.com/5cfa6615b3e7bd4e92e2e26313e0c0de/tumblr_nqqcxsRHvM1qkro5no2_540.gif). There was some space around them so he wrote an E.R. to the left, a V.B. above and finished with an I.L. to the right, all in smaller sizes then the D.H. Stiles felt it was only right. Allison wasn't the only one of them that was lost. Those three were Derek's betas and they would've wanted to be with their Alpha like this, had they been given this chance. Stiles then turned around and found that Lydia had seen what he just did. She didn't say anything but moved to take the pen and headed for the shelf. She moved to where her initials were. She then wrote in a J.W. to the left and an A.S. to the right of her L.M before writing an E.S. next to his brother's. She then handed the pen over to the next guy in line before looking over at Stiles. They just shared a nod before they moved to join the others and they headed out of the library together.

* * *

At the Dread Doctors lab, their 'specimen' returned after battling with the Alpha, wounded and pleading.

"Give me another chance. I can do it, with a little more power. I just need more power."

The three of them then started to walk up to him and saw that not only was he wounded but his talons were also gone. The Surgeon moved and brandished his cane up and unsheathed the blade underneath it. At the sight, their specimen started to cry and beg. They were indifferent to it.

"Your condition worsens," the Surgeon said through the crying.

"I'm okay. Really, just please, give me another chance."

"You were supposed to remove the obstacles. Our time is limited."

"Whatever you're here to do, I can help."

But the Surgeon shook his head. "No second chances."

"But I can help!" the man cried.

"[No Second Chances](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/teenwolf/images/0/06/Teen_Wolf_Season05_Episode_1_creatures_of_the_night_the_doctors_.png/revision/latest?cb=20150702163418)," the Surgeon repeated, this time with the Geneticist and Pathologist joining in.

The Surgeon then speared his blade into the man's chest and he fell to the ground with a pained cry. As he lay dying, crows began to crawl out of the cut and fly off.

* * *

Virgil was underneath an elevated car, tweaking with some parts that had been dinged up by what he heard was driving into a fallen tree. He had already taken out some pieces of bark and leaves and had placed them over in a small pile on the workbench nearby. Now he was loosening some parts to check the extent of the damage. The car's owner was sitting off in a bench in the reception area while Virgil was working and his boss was in his office checking with the guy's insurance. When he finished replacing and mending the broken parts, Virgil wiped some sweat from his brow and headed off for his boss' office.

"Come in," his boss said after he knocked.

Virgil opened the door and slid his head in the crack. "All done," he told him.

The man looked at his watch. "In less than two hours?"

"The damage wasn't as severe as we thought. Only two parts had to be replaced completely and I salvaged the rest. So it should be about 200 dollars extra."

"I see," his boss muttered. He made a mark on the charge forms he had ready. "You didn't tell the customer you were done yet, did you?"

Virgil nodded. "I did, right when I finished. And I also gave him the estimate."

The man's jaw tightened a bit. "I see. So a two-hour charge rate then. Well thank you Virgil."

Virgil gave a slight nod before he turned to leave and then let a small side smirk creep up. "You could thank me by actually paying me when I work," he mumbled as he walked off.

His boss was ticked off at him, he could tell. But, he also knew that the miserable bastard couldn't fire him outright because Virgil was the only one that would put up with his cheap skating. Any rate Virgil didn't care.

He started to move for the bathroom to freshen up when he was stopped as he passed through the waiting area. The customer moved to flag him down.

"Excuse me," the guy said. "I just wanted to say thanks again for fixing my car up so fast. From what your boss said when he picked me up, I was half afraid I might have to spend the night sleeping here."

Virgil fought the urge to snort. Yeah, that didn't shock him. No doubt his boss thought he could swindle this guy ' _And I'm supposed to be the criminal around here_ ,' he thought glumly to himself.

"It's no problem man," Virgil tried to wave off. "The damage wasn't that bad. I'll lower your car back down in a few minutes and you'll be set."

The customer sighed. "That's a relief. Oh, and this is for you." He then pulled out a fifty and held it out for him.

"That's okay," said Virgil, his hand out in protest. He didn't like anything that made him feel like he were any kind of a charity case.

But the customer didn't put away. "No, I insist. Hey, I can't help but feel that if it hadn't been for you then I would've spent a lot more than this."

Virgil was feeling uncomfortable and just wanted this to be over already so he just lightly took it. "Thank you," he nodded in gratitude.

He then took off and went outside to where the rain was still falling though not as hard as before and he stood under the garage's awning. Virgil looked at the watch on his wrist to see that it was already over half passed midnight. It was the night right before the new school year started. That meant that the Senior Scribe at the high school should be just about over right about now. He took some time to remember that he had gone to that event this time just last year.

Normally he didn't like social events, mostly because nobody in his class wanted to socialize with him. With all the talk made about him when he moved here, he wasn't surprised but it hadn't really bothered him. Most at that school were rich, spoiled, selfish and/or whiny pricks and he'd had more experience and memories of them than he wanted as it was. Yet, the whole idea of Senior Scribe had been something he actually thought was pretty cool. To leave your mark along with all the others that had gone through those halls and ready to leave them for the world outside. It was something that he couldn't help but respect. Though he didn't leave his with along the sea of other students one after the other like everyone else did. He had gone to that school alone, left it alone, so his mark should be alone. His initials, V.E., he had tagged into one of the shelves at the school library that was off to the side, in the shadows. It was a part of the library he had found void of any marks and couldn't help but find it perfect for him.

He turned and caught sight of the customer moving to wait in front of his car. Virgil yanked out his tarot deck and shuffled them to prepare to see what his card was when something seemed to come at him out of nowhere. He was startled and he ended up dropping a card. It fell face first into the damp pavement and he quickly moved to pick it up before it could get ruined. He started to fan it a bit when he looked up as he heard a small 'caw' sound. He looked to see a crow nestling on one of the awning's support beams and it was looking down at him. He guessed that's what came at him. He shook the card for another few seconds before he turned it around to see that it didn't look like it had been ruined. Virgil narrowed his eyes when he saw that it was the Wheel of Fortune. It was upside down in its reversed position. The same position that he had drawn it this morning. He heard another caw from the crow and looked back up at it before it cawed one more time and flew off. It was then followed by a small flock of crows as they flew off towards the distance, cawing as a group.

Virgil felt a chill crawl down his spine despite how warm and humid it was out.


	5. Parasomnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is the first day of Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Kira and Malia's senior year. Theo tells his story but Stiles is convinced he is not who he claims he is. Maggie fears what Oscar has planned in the long run and what it could mean for the Hales and tries to make steps but it might not be what she hoped for.

The woods were quiet with the light of the full moon giving a decent amount of light through the trees. Stiles was running through the trees, moving as fast as he could. He found a small gorge up ahead and he leapt hard at the edge and he flew off into the air for the other side. Time seemed to gradually slow down for Stiles as he was in the air until it seemed to fully stop when his landed firmly on the ground. He was kneeling on the ground, inhaling the deep smell of the earth beneath him.

He then stood up and was about to keep running off, but he nearly fell when he felt something suddenly pierce his shoulder. He grunted as he straightened up and looked to see an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. A hard swish sounded in the air as another arrow flew from the trees and stuck itself in his other shoulder. Stiles gasped out in pain but managed to stay on his feet. He then rose his head to the sky and let out a hard predatorial roar that seemed to vibrate through the forest. As soon as he roared, he then felt as three more arrows moved to stick themselves into his chest, one after the other. Stiles' breath was caught his throat as the pressure of the arrows pressed into his chest. His knees were shaking but he still stayed on his feet, barely. He looked down and grasped the shaft of one of them yet seemed to lack the strength to pull it out. He then heard a sound ahead of him and he looked up to see the one who he called for with his howl.

"Scott!" he gasped out as he rose a shaky hand out to him.

Scott stood there, looking horrified for him, but also torn and hesitant. His friend then turned to look off into the shadows and Stiles saw the dark shape of someone standing there with a bow raised on hand. An outline of the girl and she moved to grab an arrow from her quiver and readied it into her bow as she aimed it at Stiles. Scott was turning his gaze back and forth, as if wrestling with a choice. Stiles or his attacker.

"I'm sorry," Scott mumbled before he turned himself firmly at the archer's direction, making his choice.

She then drew the arrow on the bowstring and Stiles could make out her jawline tightening before she then let go and fired. The arrow came flying for Stiles' head in what felt like slow motion. Stiles blinked as it moved right for him.

Stiles then gasped out as he found himself not staring at Death's door but the ceiling of his room. He was breathing rapidly, his body stiff as a board from the pressure in his chest. After a moment, Stiles found himself able to sit up and he looked down at his chest to find them free of arrows. He was still breathing hard, and sweating a bit, as he looked down to find Malia sleeping soundly right next to him. She was facing in his direction and the sight of her peaceful expression began to calm his hard breathing. He lightly moved the blanket off and sat straight up at the edge, making sure to not stir and wake her up. He wiped the sweat from his brow and his heartbeat began to settle. He soon found himself over his bathroom sink and was splashing cool water on his face. After a while, he moved to wipe himself clean with his towel, but his eyes stayed on the mirror.

When he finished, Stiles moved back into his room and saw the alarm clock by his bedside read that it was a quarter to five in the morning. Malia was still sleeping peacefully and he took a moment to look at her gentle face before he made way for his window. It was still raining somewhat so the full moon wasn't visible but Stiles could still feel it through the clouds. He sighed as he let his forehead bump against the glass. He was wishing he could see it right now, to take his mind away far away from that nightmare.

"Ah boy," he mumbled as he stared out.

Stiles wasn't a stranger to nightmares, especially this one. Getting shot by arrows in the woods with him calling out to Scott, it wasn't the first time he'd had that nightmare. And it wasn't just once before but dozens of times over the last year, starting after that night he had been in the Argent's basement. It would always play out the same way and he'd always wake up like he just now; in a cold sweat and feel paralyzed for about two or three seconds with a hard pressure in his chest. While it wasn't his only nightmare surrounding Allison, it was one of his stronger ones. But it had been a good couple of months since he suffered from this nightmare; since Mexico actually. A part of him thought he'd seen the last of at least this one but he could only guess that seeing Scott write in Allison's initials earlier stirred it back up again.

"Damn." Stiles drew his head back and let his forehead bounce against his window a little harder than he expected.

"Stiles?"

Stiles jerked a bit as he looked over to see that Malia was sitting up in his bed.

"Malia," his voice cracked out before he cleared his throat. "Uh sorry, did I wake you?"

"Are you okay?" she asked him, disregarding his question.

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, just a little bad dream, that's all. I think I'm just a little agitated."

Malia gave a nod. "Well, it was a crazy night."

Stiles let out a breathless chuckle. He thought that couldn't be more of an understatement. On top of all the emotional issues, they just had a werewolf with some kind of super claws come and try to kill Scott and a kid from their past suddenly show up and was a werewolf. He would need to talk with his dad about that last one. Something about that last one didn't sit right with him.

He then sighed. "I'm sorry I woke you, but you should try and get some more sleep. You don't want to be tired for the first day back at school."

"What about you?"

He shook his head. "I don't think I can get any more sleep now."

"Let's see if I can help with that." Malia then sat up and scooched over to the side of the bed and then patted the space next to her.

Stiles rose his eyebrows at that one but Malia just patted the mattress again. He shrugged and headed over and moved to lay back down. He turned to face her but she pushed at his shoulders to turn him over so that his back was facing her. She then moved to lay down and scooched closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. She then moved to let her cheek rest on the side of his head as she moved to spoon him.

Stiles couldn't help but let out a small content moan as she began to rub her hand along his arm and let her bare leg graze against his bare feet affectionately. He let himself lean back into her hold and he closed his eyes when Malia's nose began grazing the edge of his ear. "Thank you," he mumbled.

"Sleep," she told him.

Staring at his face, she could see that Stiles was still feeling tense and anxious over what had woken him up but the anxiety she was picking up from him was slowly ebbing away as she kept rubbing herself against him. As she let her nose graze against over his temple, she noticed that his hand that was resting on his pillow was slowly and softly making left and right spiral movements as he tried to relax. Malia kept holding and rubbing him for a while, and soon she began hearing some light snoring. She broke into a small smile as she rested her head on his shoulder and went back to sleep herself.

* * *

Natalie Martin was calmly sipping some morning coffee from her mug as she watched the morning news. It seemed like it was going to be a nice day after that big storm they had last night. She turned away when she heard her daughter's footsteps as she came into the kitchen. She was fully dressed and prepared with her bag already strapped over her shoulder.

"Morning sweetie," Natalie said as she moved over for her.

Lydia looked her mom up and down. She was a wearing her glasses and had her favorite pearl necklace on with matching earrings, which was all complimented by a business dress. "Someone's dressed to impress today."

Natalie looked herself down for a moment before she smiled at her daughter. "Well, I felt like dressing up a bit more than usual. It's not just the first day back but it's my first official day as the school's new guidance counselor. I have my first appointment today."

"Oh yeah," Lydia nodded. She had almost forgotten. Ms. Morrell had left and her mother decided to try applying. She had to go to some seminars during the summer but she was given the green light for it. "My fingers are crossed for the one to first get your sage advice." She then lifted her hand to show her crossed fingers to her mother.

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Thank you for your support Lydia."

Lydia tilted her head. "You're welcome," she said simply to her.

Natalie smiled at her and Lydia smiled back.

"What about you? You only have one class in your schedule, right?"

"Don't worry mom, I have something to occupy my time."

"It wouldn't have something to do with a certain young deputy, would it?" Lydia rose her eyes a bit and Natalie narrowed her eyes. "Don't look so surprised. I do pay attention to some of the things my daughter does in her free time, and with who."

"Oh, if you only knew," she mumbled a bit to herself. She had a feeling that if her mom knew all the things that she had been involved in the last year and a half she wouldn't let her out of her sight ever again. But then Lydia rose her tone back up. "It's not what you think mom. Jordan and I are just friends."

During the last six months, Lydia had been spending more and more time with Jordan to try and help him crack the mystery of what he was. They had gone through as much lore as they could find in order to try and find answers. But they hadn't had much luck. The Argent's bestiary didn't have answers so they tried going off to the nearest university library though it turned out to be a dead end. When Lydia learned that Stiles and Liam had been meeting with Satomi and her pack to help the young beta learn control, she thought that she might have some answers. Satomi had a good collection of lore in her study and she allowed Lydia to borrow some. She and Jordan were still reading some of them but they worked together to try and make sense of it all.

Natalie held a hand up to her. "You don't have to be defensive, I understand. You're 18, a young woman now, and Deputy Parrish I admit is quite the attractive young man. If I were ten years younger I'd might also-"

Lydia quickly cut her mother off there. "It's not like that. We're just working on something, that's all, I swear."

Her mom nod but she still had a mischievous smile on her. "Okay. Just know you can still talk to me. I will understand. I know how easy it is to fall for a guy in uniform."

"Oh really? Is that a clue about this mysterious date you have planned Friday night?"

"The point is," Natalie said sharply. "I just want you to be careful honey."

"It'll be alright mom. Jordan's a really sweet guy. If anything, you should probably be more worried for him than me. Now go and get to work."

Natalie laughed as she moved to grab her purse. "Be good."

"You too," Lydia called back.

When Natalie got to the school, she waited in her office as her first student walked in. It was a senior girl by the name of Tracy Stewart. She'd been having some problems with sleeping and was starting to suffer from an emerging case of insomnia. Her father had signed her up for counseling when they started escalating into delusional and screaming fits. Natalie sat and listened as Tracy started talking about one that happened to her just last night.

Tracy began telling the story of how she had been in her bed when suddenly some ravens and crows woke her up. The storm was raging on outside and they were fluttering around her skylight window, pecking at it and cawing. They were trying to get in and Tracy had moved to try and close and latch it shut to keep them away. She managed to do it but the chair she was standing on was grabbed by something and she fell.

"My dad found me on the floor, lying beside the chair," she finished.

"What about the skylight?" asked Natalie.

"That's the thing. It doesn't actually open. It was sealed shut a couple of years ago to weather proof it."

"So, some of it was definitely a dream."

Tracy leaned in desperately. "And some of it wasn't."

"Honey," she said gently. "I'm going to propose that most of it was. You know, there's a theory that one of the biological functions of dreaming is to simulate threatening events. It's a way for our brain to rehearse dealing with them. I think you're dealing with normal anxiety Tracy. The kind that's very common to seniors."

Natalie was guessing that the pressures of what was to come after high school was doing this to Tracy. She knew that hers, as well as all other seniors, were about to lose their comfort zones when they left to head out into the world. She remembered how it was at her age. Like most, she couldn't wait to finally leave high school and being a kid behind and go out and enjoy her freedom out there. Only after did she realize that this all had been the easy part. And there were some out there that knew or felt that before they left high school. She could feel that Tracy might be one of them.

Tracy sighed. "I better go. Class is going to be starting soon."

But as she got up, Tracy began to cough. And it started escalating where she had to hold the desk for support. Natalie quickly got up to help her as the girl started coughing louder and harder. It was as if she had something stuck in her throat. Tracy suddenly bent over and hacked out a black mess of goo on her desk.

"God," Natalie gasped out as she eyed all of it.

Tracy then moved to pick up what seemed to be [a piece of a black feather](https://www.teenwolfwiki.com/files/~9379/64572-original.png). "Is this common?" she slurred out.

* * *

Scott was at the clinic for a quick session before he had to head over for school, and he needed to talk to Deaton. Right now, Deaton was giving him one of the run throughs for the techniques of giving injections proper injections to the animals. Scott held the needle over the point where he had to stick it into the dog.

[Deaton was at the side](https://www.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/teen-wolf-season-5-episode-2-scott-deaton.jpg), calmly talking him through it. "Remember, for intramuscular injections in the hind leg-"

"Stay clear of the sciatic nerve," Scott finished. He then started to move the needle in to perform the injection.

"Excellent. Aspirate back to make sure you haven't hit a vein. Then just keep the needle still."

Scott then stuck it in and pushed on the plunger. Just as he moved to take it out, the dog bared its teeth and growled at him, startling them a bit. Scott quickly moved to try and settle him down.

Deaton let a laugh escape him. "He's a little one but his teeth are still sharp."

"Sorry buddy," Scott said as he moved to help him off the table. He then brought him to the little girl who owned him. "Here you go Stephanie," he said, handing her the dog.

"[Thank you, Dr. McCall](https://i.gifer.com/V14r.gif)," she said meekly.

That made both Scott and Deaton give her a look.

Scott shook his head. "[I'm not a doctor yet](http://38.media.tumblr.com/4cf4325116cf1eb32a5893a9357f338b/tumblr_nqqmwkWQni1qdhizao2_500.gif)," he told her. Though, he knew that's what he wanted. Working at the animal clinic, and working his internship at the hospital, he really enjoyed it.

The girl took her dog away and Scott went back over to Deaton as he was back to analyzing the long claws Scott ripped off his attacker.

"Find anything yet?" Scott asked.

"Maybe, are you sure this guy was a werewolf? As far as I can tell these claws are actually talons. In fact, they're the talons of a harpy eagle, one of the largest known birds of prey."

Scott narrowed his eyes. "How does a werewolf get talons?"

"Personally, I'm more interested in how these talons somehow were able to absorb your power. The only one who should be able to do that is a Beta of your own making."

"Someone like Liam?"

"Exactly."

Because he was a True Alpha and he didn't get his power by killing another Alpha for it, it couldn't just be taken away like other Alpha's powers could.

"What about Stiles? I didn't turn him but Peter thought he could do it since he turned the two of us together."

Deaton resisted the urge to flinch at that. He didn't share the revelation he had discovered over six months ago about how Stiles truly became a werewolf. He had discovered the truth when he went to Eichen House and spoke to Valack to induce himself into a special meditative state. In that state he learned that before Stiles had been bitten by Peter Hale, he had fallen into a puddle of a wolf's pawprint and had accidentally ingested water from it. And not any normal wolf either, but a print that had belonged to Laura Hale. In truth, it was that which turned Stiles into a werewolf, not a bite from Peter.

"Stiles is…a special case. His situation is quite unique. He was turned into a werewolf but then had been made human again and then was turned back into a werewolf. In a sense, his second turning was through you. Not to mention you two share a strong connection so it might not have been impossible. Though, now that you proclaimed him your Second, that's all a mute point. He would take in your power upon your death, so long as no one steals it. That's not a position to be given or taken lightly."

Scott couldn't help but feel that Deaton just gave him a warning.

"And what about if I were to let another Beta join my pack?" he then asked, the thought of Theo asking if he could join him coming to mind. "Could they do it?"

"Well, normally I would say no but I'm starting to wonder if the rules of our supernatural world aren't as rigid as I once thought." He then took the talon out for them both to examine it. "Or maybe someone's trying to change those rules."

Scott began to detect that there was some fear coming from Deaton. Something about this thing was scaring him. He always felt Deaton was one of the bravest people he knew. Even when facing angry werewolves or sword wielding Oni, his boss never lost his cool. For him to be reacting like this, he couldn't help but feel his insides start chilling a bit.

When Scott told him that he had to head out, Deaton watched him solemnly as he left before turning back to the talons on his desk, a bit scared. He was sure Scott must've detected it, but he wouldn't know why. Deaton didn't tell him the most important thing that he discovered about the talons, he had seen them before. It was roughly ten years ago. What was scaring him was the one these talons had belonged to was dead.

"Riley Astor," he mumbled to himself. The young garuda that had come to Beacon Hills over ten years ago and had formed a bond with Laura Hale.

He would have to do some further digging before he could even bring this up to Scott or the others. They didn't need to know about this, at least not yet. There was enough on their plates already.

* * *

Stiles was following his dad into his office. He was pestering him on his suspicions of Theo's sudden return to Beacon Hills as a werewolf.

Stiles closed the door behind him. "I know his family left town around the time Theo was nine or ten. His older sister got into an accident when he was eight."

"Please go to school," Noah meekly sighed at his son.

But Stiles didn't budge. "Dad, this kid's a werewolf."

" _You_  are a werewolf," he argued. "Your  _best friend_  is a werewolf. You're  _dating_  a werecoyote. I still don't know what Kira's supposed to be. When the flying monkeys come soaring through this station you will have my undivided attention. Until then, just go to school," he pleaded to him with a tired gesture.

[Stiles then pointed at him](https://www.theyoungfolks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/173671.jpg). "What did you do?"

"What do you mean, what did I do?"

He then began looking his dad up and down. "There's something different about you." Stiles could sense it. Something was off with his dad. Something wasn't the same.

"What are you talking about?"

Stiles suddenly walked over to be right in front of him. "What is it? What's different?"

He started to sniff the air and scan every inch of him from top to bottom. But Stiles quickly got pushed away.

"Oh for the love of god Stiles," his dad cried out. "You've been spending too much time with Malia. Okay, would just stop and go to school."

"I will go if you promise to do a full background check on the Raekens."

He shook his head. "No. You know, just because I'm the only law enforcement officer who knows about this does not make it my responsibility to do something every time you have a minor suspicion."

Stiles tilted his head a bit. "Except, you're not the only one." He then looked over to see Jordan Parrish sitting at his desk.

Noah then huffed before he moved to open his door. "Parrish," he called out to him. "I need you to help my son out with something."

Stiles gave the deputy a wave as he stood behind his dad. A few minutes later, Jordan was handing Stiles some printed sheets.

"This is all I was able to get," he said as he gave them to him. "This Theo kid, isn't he a werewolf like you? Doesn't that make you guys brothers or something?"

Stiles resisted a smirk at that phrase. "And Haigh was a deputy like you. Shouldn't that have made you brothers?"

"Touché," he breathed. "But, what I found on Theo isn't much."

Stiles began flipping through the papers. "No, but it's something."

"What's your deal with this guy anyway? You only just met him last night and didn't he help Scott?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, call it a gut feeling. Theo…I can't but feel like my instincts are telling me that something is not right with this kid."

Jordan nodded. "And, what do those instincts say about me?" he asked making Stiles look back up at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, last night I had no control of myself. One minute, your dad is rushing to try and help me and the next thing I know, I'm at the hospital staring him down as his gun is pointed at me because I was close to attacking him and Melissa. I had no idea what was going on or what I was doing."

"Like after Haigh tried to kill you," Stiles said as the memory of Parrish that night came back to him.

Jordan let his gaze wander. "These last six months, Lydia and I tried but still haven't been able to find any answers."

"You two had no luck with the texts you borrowed from Satomi?"

He shook his head. "We haven't finished looking through them all yet, but nothing so far. Just like everything else." He then let out a puff of air in frustration. "I don't know what I am or what I'm capable of. Even the guy who attacked me said I wasn't a normal creature, like him." When he got up that morning, he had looked in the mirror to find that he didn't even have a trace from that guy's attack on him last night. Not even a scar, as if it never happened at all. "Maybe that's why the Sheriff doesn't trust me."

That made Stiles get taken aback. "Are you kidding Parrish? My dad does trust you, a lot."

The thought of the Sheriff having him do every low down job known to law enforcement came back to Jordan. "Well then he has a funny way of showing it."

Stiles felt some resentment leak out of the deputy. He then looked towards his dad's office where he was sitting at his desk looking over some papers. His dad was giving off some anxiety and stress that he could smell all the way from here.

"Look I don't know what's going on between you and my dad right now, but what I do know is that I don't feel any bad vibes from you." Stiles could see the doubt on Parrish's face. "And I'm not just saying that. I think its clear that I don't normally trust people," he said holding up the files on Theo.

That got Parrish to crack a small smile. "Yeah."

Stiles face then began to fall a bit. "But, just so you know, if you do ever hurt my dad, Lydia, my friends, or any innocent people then I'll make sure you never do it again, ever."

That made the deputy move to catch Stiles in the eye. It dimly registered to Stiles that he technically made a threat to an officer in a police station but he batted it away. He said what he felt and he meant what he said. They stared at each other for a few more seconds before Jordan sighed.

"Weirdly enough, that actually makes me feel a little relieved. Thanks Stiles."

"Yeah, anytime," shrugged Stiles before he moved to leave.

Jordan just let his gaze drop as he felt himself settle a bit.

* * *

Maggie Carson was preparing a herb order for a client when she heard the doorbell ring. She went to wipe her hands on her smock before she headed off for the front door and opened it to see Charlie Harris, Oscar's beta of six months.

"Hi Maggie," he said as soon as she finished opening the door.

"Charlie." She ushered him inside and quickly closed the door. "I have to say that I wasn't expecting you."

"I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time," he said as he walked further into her home. "It's my lunch hour so-"

"No, no it's okay. How was your full moon last night?"

"Good. I kept my bearings for the entire night and didn't feel any slips of control. I think I got the full hang of this now."

"My, that's really impressive." The man had only been a werewolf for half a year but he was starting to carry himself like someone that had been at it for a while now. Typically it took new werewolves around a year of training before they could carry out that normally on a full moon, with an Alpha. Lycanthropy seemed to fit Charlie well. She wondered if it was due to his military training before she shook out of it. "But something tells me that you didn't come here just to tell me that."

Charlie sighed. "No. I wanted you to know that I overheard something last night. Oscar had mentioned those three again. The Hales."

Maggie tensed up. "What did he say?"

"He knows that they've decided to stay in Green Ridge. And it sounds like he wants them to stay where he can keep watching them."

Her jaw tensed a bit. "Anything else?"

"Well, Oscar knows that the Hales are still talking with you."

"Really? What does he feel about that?"

"He didn't seem too bothered by that. He sounded relieved that you were since it meant they would stay close."

"I see." That meant that Oscar might decide to begin watching her, if he wasn't already.

"Do you want to tell me what this is all about?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry Charlie but I can't tell you that."

Charlie straightened up a bit. "You can't? You mean you won't."

"Charlie, it's just not that simple" she tried to explain.

"Of course, asking someone to spy for you rarely is. Especially when the person you want them to spy on is their leader." His face was poised as he stared at her and it made Maggie look away from him. He then sighed. "Look, I may be only six months into this whole supernatural werewolf stuff but I'm not an idiot. These Hales…I don't know why they're so important but I can tell it must be something big for Oscar to want to keep them in his sights and for you to need to spy on him as he does."

"I think you're farthest thing from an idiot Charlie. It's for your own good."

"Really? Is that why you asked me to be your spy? Out of everyone in the pack? For my own good? Now, I might not too crazy about Oscar, the guy did bite and turn me into a werewolf without my permission, but whether I like it or not he is my pack's Alpha. He's a hardass but so was my CO and I learned to respect and follow him and it might be the same thing for Oscar. I don't know if it's this werewolf pack thing or if it's from my time in the service but I can't help but feel like you're making me betray my whole unit."

"I'm…I'm sorry."

"If you're really sorry then you'll tell me what this is about. If you're asking me to spy on Oscar for you and risk myself for you then I think it's only right that I know why."

Maggie was starting to wonder if she might've made a mistake. It was a beta's natural instinct to feel a connection to their Alpha, especially if it's the one that turned them. But Charlie was recently turned and didn't seem to be too fond of him, so she felt that he was the best way for her to gain insight into what Oscar was planning. She could feel the man was up to something as he was trying to expand his pack's power and was starting to take too great an interest in the Hales, particularly Jason. Maggie feared that Oscar might just suspect the truth about the boy's father and she dreaded to think about how he might use that if confirmed. Yet, it looked like even someone like Charlie wouldn't fight his natural instinct to have loyalty to the one that bit and turned him. If he wanted to then he might just go straight to Oscar about what she was doing and it might actually make things worse.

"The truth is that I just want to protect the Hales. Derek is my friend and he's been through so much already. He lost his first love in his arms, then was betrayed by another who destroyed his family, then his older sister was killed and soon after he lost his whole pack. He thought Cora was long dead but she came back and he got a new nephew too. I don't want anything to happen to them either."

"I get that, but why would Oscar be a threat to them. They might be werewolves but it sounds to me like they're just trying to start their lives over."

"They are."

"So why all this fuss over them?"

"It's a long story."

Charlie gave a nod before he moved to grab a nearby chair. "Well, seeing as how I still have a little over 40 minutes before I have to get back to work, I've got some time."

Maggie sighed. "Okay."

* * *

Stiles was explaining to Malia everything that had been found at the station as they walked down the front courtyard of the school that was filled with dozens of other students.

"So you ran a background check and all you found was a speeding ticket?" she asked him.

"A speeding ticket signed by Theo's dad eight years ago."

"Which means what?"

Stiles then stopped to look at her. "Who speeds? People trying to get away from something," he said before she could answer.

"Well how many tickets do you have?"

"None."

"How many would you have if your dad didn't get you out of them?"

"Uh, seventeen," he grumbled.

Malia shook her head. "I don't know Stiles. I mean, I can see why you're worried. He is really hot. He's got like great hair, perfect body. You should definitely feel threatened."

He shook his head at her. "Thank you, because I do. Now,  _more_  than ever."

"Are we going to torture him?"

"What, no, we're not going to go torture him."

"Really because if you don't want to then I can take him," she said not missing a beat.

"What, you think I can't?" he asked, feeling a bit defensive all of a sudden.

"I didn't say that."

He narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?"

She narrowed her eyes back. "What are  _you_  saying?"

Stiles sighed and let his head fall a bit. "Look, I have a plan. There's a way to handle this, a process. First, you need to get his story. Verify the facts. You find the piece that doesn't fit and then catch him in the act. That's how you-"

But he stopped when he noticed Theo getting out of a car that was pulled up in front of the school. Malia turned just in time to see him close the door and send a look over at his parents sitting in the front. They could see them wave back before they started taking off. Theo turned and caught sight of the two of them. [He smiled and gave them a wave](http://reallylatereviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/tumblr_nqtmhgd8Wp1sa8sano1_540.gif).

"Why are you so suspicious of this guy?" Malia asked him as she kept her eyes on him. Theo seemed like a pretty good guy to her.

She turned to look back at Stiles but he had a hard look as his eyes followed Theo as he started to walk for the front entrance.

"Because I remember Theo from fourth grade," he explained. "And that's not Theo."

Theo had been listening in on them, even through all the sea of talking people.

It seemed as if he was already starting to gain a hold on Malia. The coyote part of him was subtly beginning to influence her. He had to admit, he thought she was as hot as she seemed to find him. Perhaps the coyote in her was starting to get to him as well. He definitely wouldn't mind it, especially if it helped him get what he truly wanted in the end.

And Stiles, he was following his reputation well. Smart, instinctual, and relentless when it came to the protection and safety of his family, pack and territory. But, he would use that against him. When it came time, he would give Stiles his story and when he conducts his 'process', he would be ready for it.

* * *

Scott pushed through the doors and went into the hall where he found his classmates in high spirits. The happiness and excitement that was pouring out of them was almost intoxicating. It made Scott smile, which only grew wider when Kira came over to him.

"First day of Senior Year," she said before Scott moved to hook his arm around her.

"Last first day ever," he happily grunted out.

They then moved to head off to their first class of the year together. Right after they left, Liam and Mason were passing through where they had been standing a moment ago. Mason had a book in his hands and was trying to show it to Liam but he was trying to stay a step ahead of him.

"This is the one I was talking about. I got it from a rare book dealer in Germany. Cost me 200 bucks but it was totally worth it."

"Still reading about this stuff?" Liam couldn't believe it. Six months and Mason as tenacious as ever.

"I was attacked by an armor-plated giant wearing a bear skull. It left an impression. Look, have you ever seen anything like this?"

Mason was pointing to an artist rendering of what seemed to be a very accurate depiction of a Berserker. Too accurate for Liam's taste.

He just shook his head. "Uh, no. Never."

He tried to take off but Mason didn't let him get a foot away before he persisted.

"And then there's this whole section about the Nagual. Have you ever heard of the name Tet, Tetaca,"

"Tezcatlipoca," Liam said flawlessly. He shook his head. "No, never heard of it." He then moved to disappear into the classroom.

Mason sighed but closed the book as he moved to get to his seat while Liam got to his. Mr. Yukimura was up front and finishing the last parts of getting himself settled before he told the class to settle down and get into their seats.

Liam was about to sit down but did a double take when he saw who was sitting next to him. It was Hayden Romero. He had half forgotten that she went to this school. When he transferred to Beacon Hills he hadn't had one class with her. Now, she was in his very first one. She turned to look at him and it was plain to see that she didn't seem very happy to see him.

"Great," he mumbled, very audibly.

That just made Hayden blow a hard bubble of her gum out at him before she turned to look over at their teacher. He quickly looked for another seat but he saw that every other one was filled. The only empty seat was the one next to her. And he saw that he was the only one that was still standing, so did everyone else, including Mason.

And Mr. Yukimura. "Liam," he called out. "You're not just going to stand there, are you?"

"Maybe," he sighed.

"The whole semester," Yukimura quipped.

Liam nodded. "Maybe," he said, still standing in place.

Yukimura couldn't help but smile as he amusingly thought that maybe the kid was spending too much time with Stiles. "Liam, have a seat."

Liam then sighed as he resigned himself to this uncomfortable situation. As he sat down, he thought that it was just for the length of one class. If he could bare a whole night of the full moon, he could bare 45 minutes of sitting next to Hayden. But as he sat, he felt something weird and looked down to realize he was sitting on fresh gum. He looked up to see Hayden blowing another bubble at him, with a smirk plastered on her face. Mason noticed too and fought hard to not outright laugh then and there.

"All right, welcome to History 103," Mr. Yukimura addressed the class.

Liam huffed to himself. He'd bare the full moon any day compared to this.

* * *

In AP biology, Scott moved to sit next to Kira who smiled at him for a moment before her face fell. [She then looked over at Lydia](https://www.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/teen-wolf-season-5-episode-2-scott-kira.jpg) and she was looking back with a similar bewildered look. They were thinking the same thing. What was Scott doing in AP Biology? He was far from the…studious type. Kira silently asked for Lydia to ask him the question they both wanted to ask but she shook her head. Scott was her friend but was Kira's boyfriend. That left the dirty work for Kira, not her. Kira just hoped she didn't offend Scott in any way.

"Scott," she coughed out lightly. "Are you in the right class?"

"AP Biology?" he asked a little dimly.

"Uh, do you know what AP stands for?" Lydia then asked him.

"[Advanced placement](https://i.gifer.com/VRKE.gif)," he excitedly smiled at her.

He then opened his book to reveal there were colored tabs, filled sticky notes and fully highlighted sections decorating his whole textbook. That made Lydia and Kira share another look before they shrugged. They hoped Scott knew what he was getting into.

"Welcome to AP Biology," their teacher said to all of them. "Let's see who's awake? Can someone tell me what plasmids are?"

"Circular self-replicating DNA molecules often used in cloning proteins," answered Lydia.

Their teacher nodded at her. "Nicely stated Lydia. Now, can you tell me what vitamin is absorbed in the stomach via parietal cell production of a glycoprotein?"

"Uh?" Lydia was drawing a blank.

"B-12," their teacher told her. "Mr. McCall," she called to him, making him look up from his textbook. "Did you know the answer?"

"Um, no," he said, shaking his head.

"It's a common test question. What's your number one college pick?"

"Um-" he started but she cut him off.

"Stop saying um."

He quickly apologized. "Sorry. UC Davis," he said more confidently.

"Good choice. It's the best school on the West Coast for biological and physical sciences. You're in the right class if that's what you're hoping for. Who else thinks they're in the right class?" she called out to everyone else.

Scott looked back and saw that [Theo was behind him and was the first one to have his hand raised](https://66.media.tumblr.com/dc8435d4ffe5e1824f697d23a2eac526/tumblr_nqsghyV4bt1uzknmmo1_250.gif). Then [he, along with everyone else rose their hands](http://www.apaixonadosporseries.com.br/wp-content/arquivos/2015/07/teen-wolf-5x02-scott.jpg).

"Good, then you should all be prepared for the test tomorrow." That made hands drop with shocked and dejected looks appearing on most of their faces. "Don't be so disappointed. This test is specifically to help you determine whether you should actually be in AP Biology. You have two weeks to drop. Tomorrow's test will just weed out the ones who shouldn't be here. And that could be any of you."

The teacher then moved to let her gaze drop down on Scott. As if one of those could likely be him. That made his heart sink.

* * *

After class, Liam waited until everyone left, save Mason, before he got out of his seat and quickly moved to yank the gum off. But there was now a very noticeable stain on his jeans and he couldn't go around wearing them for the rest of the day. He moved for the locker room and found a pair of shorts he could borrow and moved to put his dirty jeans in his locker. But, as he did, Mason went back to his arguments that something unusual was going on and Liam went back to trying to block them out.

"Look, I'm not saying I believe all of it a hundred percent but people around us seem to know things. Like Lydia, she knows things. Then there's Stiles, I tell the guy about how you disappear and think you were kidnapped, he doesn't blink. And his dad, at the rave I found him knocked out and when I wake him up, he tells me to stop some music. Not to mention, finds me and Lydia trapped and helps blow up the thing holding us there. All that doesn't seem strange to you?"

"Dude, it's the first day of school. Shouldn't you be thinking of other things like…the soccer team," he blurted when he noticed them passing down the hall.

Mason looked over at them for a moment. "What do you think I'm going to do? Follow them out to the field and watch them practice while I pretend to study?"

Liam shrugged. "It's warm out. They'll probably be shirtless," he said suggestively.

Mason looked back at them and one of the team members looked back their way and he seemed to send a smile his way. "I'll see you in Physics," he said before he moved to go on after them.

Liam let a chuckle loose but felt relief that he made Mason stop with his probing. His best friend was getting too close for comfort. If he kept this up, he just might end up learning something he didn't want him too. About the others…and himself. He moved to throw his jeans in the locker when the one next to him slammed shut to reveal Hayden.

"Nice shorts," she smirked at him.

Liam bit down his aggravation. "Thanks. [You know, I was wondering if you were still pissed off about the sixth grade but I guess you cleared that up](http://38.media.tumblr.com/4b5a018f521cf264aa2e7dbb1c0da161/tumblr_nqsbpqK36D1t27ahco4_250.gif)."

Hayden smiled. "I'm not pissed off Liam." She then dropped the smile. "[I'm vengeful](https://i.gifer.com/K1XW.gif)."

She then left and Liam moved his jeans up to his locker to cushion his head as he slammed it against the door. This was going to be a long first day.

But as he was stressing, Tracy Stewart moved off passed him with a troubled look on her face. She was wondering what happened to her in Ms. Martin's office earlier. The black gunk she spat out, as well as the feather she coughed up. She moved to her locker but froze when she felt something off. It seemed quiet all of a sudden and everything around her seemed to get darker. She then started to hear heavy footsteps, moving for her. The person's shadow started to overcome her and there was the thick sound of electricity crackling through air, as well as some kind of heavy breathing. It freaked her out and she moved to open her locker so she could get out of there but as soon as she did, it all seemed to stop. But it was for only a moment before the lights shut off and everything got dark and empty again. She looked over and saw black goo, bleeding out of a locker before it opened. A metal clad hand soon came out, followed by a man in a mask. He was crawling out of the locker and [moving for her](https://thegeekiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/11144078_10207369628743013_2251408550749365284_o.jpg), slowly.

"There's nothing there," she chanted over and over to herself as it kept getting closer.

"Tracy?" she heard dimly before a different hand reached and touched her shoulder. When it did, everything seemed to return to normal and she saw that it was Lydia Martin. "Tracy, are you alright?" she asked her. Tracy didn't answer her, too freaked out by what happened. "How about we go outside?" Lydia suggested to her gently.

Tracy found herself nodding before she closed her locker to leave with her. She took a moment to realize that there were some claw marks right down the middle of the door but brushed it off as another hallucination.

* * *

Scott was sitting outside on some steps as he tried to keep his composure. His first AP class had dropped his high spirits a bit. He worked so hard and studied to be able to make the course but he wondered if it would be enough. Even Lydia had been stuck on something. He was starting to wonder if he could really do this. But his thoughts were interrupted when he heard Stiles call out for him.

"You're coming with me," Stiles told him.

"But I've got a free period."

"Yeah, so do I. And so does Theo Raeken. Let's go."

Scott could see that Stiles was eager to get the story behind what happened to Theo since he left Beacon Hills and he had to admit, so was he. They found him sitting off by himself in the quad, pouring over his textbook. He seemed to sense them because he looked up from it before they had gotten to him. He smiled at them and seemed to already know what they wanted. They decided to head for the locker room, which would be empty right about now.

"So, what do you want to know first?" he asked them.

"How about you start with how you got turned?" Stiles asked him, folding his arms.

Scott gave him a look but Theo held a hand up.

"It's okay. I don't mind." He then settled back as he began to tell his story. "I was skating in a neighbor's empty pool, trying to do a handplant. Nobody was home and I'm not that good of a skateboarder but I guess I was feeling pretty determined because I completely lost track of time. I didn't even realize that it was night until the yard lights came on. Like I said, I wasn't very good. On my last try I went down and hit hard. Really hard. I was sitting there at the bottom of the pool, and I realized something. I never heard the board come back down. I looked up and I saw it. It came at me fast and I barely turned around when he came right along and bit me. He then lifted his shirt to show his side. "Right here."

Scott looked at the spot and couldn't help but relate to what happened to Theo. The same thing happened to him. "It wasn't an accident. He wanted to turn you."

"Right, so why aren't you a part of  _his_ pack then?" [Stiles pressed on](https://static1.tvbuzer.com/images/episodes/d5/d542410f856ffe97ac2d2a8bf8b8e342-2247076-512-341.jpg). "Why didn't he come back for you?" After all, that's what Alphas do.

"Because by the time of my first full moon, he was dead."

"How did you know that?"

"I met another one of his pack a couple of weeks later. He told me the Alpha that bit me was killed by two of his own Betas. They were twins."

Scott and Stiles shared a look. That had to be Aiden and Ethan. Stiles had a look of disbelief on him while Scott seemed to not know what to think or feel.

"Scott, listen to my pulse. I'm telling you the truth," Theo pleaded out to him.

"Right, or you just know how to steady your heart rate while you're lying your ass off," Stiles countered.

Scott tried to throw him a look to quietly tell him to ease up but Stiles wasn't about to back down.

"Why would I lie?" Theo asked him.

"Because you aren't who you say you are."

"Okay." He then turned to Scott. "In the fourth grade you had an inhaler. I had one to. I remember this day where I ended up in the nurse's office with an asthma attack. A bad one. I was waiting to be taken to the ER. You were waiting for the principal. You told me what would happen when you go to the ER for asthma. How they give you oxygen, an IV of Prednisone. You made it sound easy. Like everything would be okay."

Scott's expression softened a bit while Stiles rolled his eyes. But Theo kept his gaze on Scott.

"I've been by myself this whole time. Everybody knows that lone wolves, they don't make it on their own. I swear I'm that same kid from fourth grade. I was hoping you are too." He and Scott stared at each other for a moment before the bell rang, breaking their gaze. "I better get to class. You're not the only ones I need to make a good impression on."

That made Scott crack a grin but Stiles just narrowed his eyes. Theo then left with Scott and Stiles watching him with opposing expressions on their faces.

Scott was captivated by Theo's story. He was just being a normal kid when his whole world just flipped on him, without warning. Then he had to face what happened to him and deal with it all on his own. When Scott went through it, he'd had Stiles, Derek and everyone else to help him through it but Theo had no one. He didn't ask for this to happen to him anymore than Scott had asked for it. Now he was forced to have to defend himself when he came looking to have some friends and not be an Omega. He couldn't help but sympathize and feel sorry for the guy.

The same couldn't be said for Stiles. He felt that whole thing, the story of his history both with them and after was rehearsed. Almost like Theo had practiced the whole thing in front of the mirror until he had gotten it right. Bringing up a past moment between him and Scott in the fourth grade, that felt fishy. And off. Theo made it seem like he pulled it out at random but the way he explained it so perfectly, everything that happened and what was said, it was like Theo had it ready and waiting to use for this very moment. The guy had to be up to something. But as he turned to look back at Scott, his friend didn't look like he shared his cynicism.

Scott could see that Stiles was being stubborn about his mistrust. He wasn't too surprised. Stiles always seemed to be like that with everyone they met. He was that way with Kira and Liam when they first met them and now they were his friends. He hoped he would get over it and quick.

"Don't give me that look," Stiles told him.

"We have to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes."

"Not this time. Okay,[ I'm right, there is something off about him](http://33.media.tumblr.com/82426794f10e986321f3f17210f16a90/tumblr_nqsgrcCTtL1t27ahco3_500.gif). I can feel it. He is not who he says he is."

Scott shook his head. "Lydia's the psychic. Not you." He then turned to leave for his next class.

"Lydia's not a psychic. She's a banshee. Okay, there's a difference," he called out after him.

But as he was left standing there, he was resolved to not give up. Something wasn't right here and he knew. Felt it but it seemed he might be the only one that did. He would keep trying but if he couldn't convince anyone else, he might have to see to it alone. As he usually had to. He shrugged to himself as he headed out of the locker room.

As Stiles headed off to go after Scott, around the corner, Theo stepped out. He watched after them with a small smirk on his face.


	6. Parasomnia 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles tries to learn Theo's secret but things take a complicated turn. Lydia turns to Jordan for help in helping Tracy with her troubles. Theo begins to analyze his future moves, and is forced to make a counter move against both Stiles and Liam.

Lydia helped Tracy over to her mother's classroom, which was thankfully empty right now. Natalie saw that Tracy was upset and asked to wait outside while she and Lydia spoke. She explained to her daughter about Tracy's latest sleeping issues and what had happened earlier that morning in her office. Natalie thought it was just simply an extreme case of parasomnia. They couldn't see that Tracy was listening in on them from just around the door.

"I know what parasomnia is, mom," Lydia told her. She'd been through too much to believe that it could be that simple. "What about the feathers?"

"People with night terrors have done far stranger things than…eating their own pillows." Lydia rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I already told her to take the rest of the day off but she didn't want to miss the first day."

"Let me try." This time, Natalie rolled her eyes. "I don't have anymore classes. I can take her home and talk to her."

"Lydia, she's having trouble sleeping. Is she needs help beyond that, we'll get her  _professional_  help. Got it?"

Lydia sighed. "I couldn't agree more."

Natalie seemed confused at that but Lydia just smiled at her. She then moved to leave the room and took Tracy by her hand as they headed off for her car. As they walked, Lydia went for her phone and called for Jordan.

Jordan had been on desk duty at the station when Lydia's call to him came in. When she asked for his help in investigating what might be 'their' kind of problem, he didn't have to spar a moment to think. Sheriff Stilinski wasn't around at the moment so he dropped word that he was heading to respond to a disturbance call, which was technically true by what Lydia just told him. He met them at the address and the girl Tracy led them up to her room.

Lydia was pacing around the room, looking at the drawings plastered on the walls, while Jordan checked around the windows.

"I don't see any signs of an attempted forced entry. The latch seems okay." Jordan then looked over at the girl. "You said something about birds, Tracy?"

"The bird was at the skylight. The one that woke me up."

He looked up at the skylight. It seemed okay too but he wanted to make sure. "Can I take a look?" Tracy nodded and he moved to grab a chair and climbed up to it. As he studied it, he noticed something. "Tracy, you said the skylight was sealed for weatherproofing?"

"Yeah, why?"

Jordan then unclipped the latch and pushed on the skylight to show that it could easily open. He pushed himself up to look outside and his face fell a bit.

Below him, Lydia noticed how he just stopped moving. "Anything?" she asked.

He brought his gaze down to her and caught her eyes. They stared at each other for a moment and Lydia got her answer. Jordan then looked over towards Tracy.

"No, nothing," he said assuredly at her.

Tracy let a small sigh escape her and Jordan nodded. He then moved to close the skylight and replace the latch. He had lied of course. There was something there. A small flock of dead ravens and crows and scratches all over the skylight. It was as if something was trying to force its way in.

After they left her to try and get some rest, Lydia and Jordan stepped outside where he told her exactly what he saw from the skylight.

"So, what are we going to do?" she asked him.

"I can't do anything official right now, but I can come back after my shift tonight and watch the house for a couple of hours."

"I'll keep you company," she offered.

"Uh, I think I'll be okay."

"But this is your own time," she pointed out.

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't think something strange was going on. I also owe you."

"For what?"

"All these months of research, searching through countless bits of lore in that thumb drive and digging through university literature, trying to figure out all the strange things going on with me."

"But we never figured it out. Besides, we're still not done. We still have some of the books that Satomi lent us. We were supposed to keep looking tonight anyway. Well, we can do it here while keeping watch. [I'll bring coffee](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_coffee_1.gif)."

"Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"One class."

"What? How can you only have one class?"

"I had enough credits to graduate last year. So, how do you take your coffee?"

He let a smile creep up on him. Lydia was smart and generous, yet aggressive and unyielding. He liked that about her and he found himself just giving in. "[Medium Americano](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_coffee_2.gif). Black."

She smiled back at him.

* * *

Mr. Yukimura was bumping back and forth as he was trying to coach Malia in how to control the car. He was uncomfortable while [Malia was exhilarated](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_malia_driving_1.gif). She had signed up for Driver's Ed class as it seemed that everyone else around her knew how to drive. Yet, it felt more complicated then she was expecting. She kept alternating between giving the car gas and hitting the brake, every other second. Mr. Yukimura tried to go with the flow, but it wasn't proving easy.

"Ease into it, Malia," he tried to tell her right before he made a sudden stop. "Easy does it."

Malia then found the course going straight for a bit and picked up some speed, but she blinked and found herself looking at the woods at night instead of the parking lot. She then heard a child like scream as the car was heading off road. Malia sped the car off and it started to plow past the pylons on the course, straight into a school bus. Malia snapped out of it just in time to notice and stomped both of her feet on the brake, making her and Mr. Yukimura's bodies thrust forward and press into their seatbelts.

"Okay," Yukimura huffed when the car came to a stop. "I think we're all good for today," he tried to say gently.

Malia nodded. "Yeah." She then put the car in park and moved to get out. "How'd I do?"

"Uh, there's room for improvement."

The two of them then looked back at the course to see that she had knocked over a half dozen pylons as well as on of the test dummies. Their eyes met again and Mr. Yukimura gave Malia an awkward smile before calling the next student up.

The students all around were looking a bit bemused at what just happened. One of them had found the whole thing a little amusing but he sensed that there was more to what happened than a loss of control. He wondered if it was the opening he needed to get to her.

* * *

The bell rang and Liam sighed out in relief as it was the last class of the day. He was thankful at least that Hayden wasn't in this class with him. He started to make his way through the crowded halls when he heard his name called out, and he turned in time to see Mason jogging for him.

"Hey, glad I found you," he breathed as he got beside him.

"Why, one the soccer players pass you a note after practice?"

"Oh, if only. But no. As they were heading for the field, one of the guys on the team fell and hurt his leg."

"He alright?"

"He had to go to the nurse but I heard one of the guys say that he just sprained it."

"Bummer man. Better luck next time."

"No, that's not what I wanted to tell you. It's how he fell. He stepped in some kind of small sink hole out in the courtyard close to the field, underneath the terrace. It looked like an impact crater. Like something small crashed right there into the pavement. Seemed fresh too. Maybe a day or two."

Liam then had a flash of memory where Stiles slammed his foot into the pavement as he threatened that werewolf who attacked Scott and Kira last night. "Oh yeah?" he mumbled.

"Yeah, and not only that. I could swear I saw some marks on the walls close by. They kind of looked like scratches. From claws."

Liam throat seized a bit and dropped his head a bit. "Claws huh," he mumbled.

Mason nodded. "Yeah. Well, I went do some digging in the local news archive. Did you know that Beacon Hills has had increase in animal attacks over in the last two years? Bodies found mauled with claw marks all over them, even around school."

"Yeah," Liam perked up a little loudly. "That's great Mason but I got to go do something real quick." Liam then picked up the pace and headed off in a different direction.

"But wait, dude," Mason called out after him but Liam just kept heading off.

Liam didn't like this. Mason seemed closer than ever before and he was still trying to pull him in, when he was already in the center of it. He wondered if Scott and the others would know what to do.

* * *

Malia walked into the library to meet with the others, a little downtrodden after her disastrous Driver's Ed class. It wasn't too crowded so she spotted them easily but saw only Scott and Kira were there waiting.

"Where's Stiles and Lydia?" she asked them.

"Lydia only had one class today," said Kira. "She left a while ago."

"And Stiles said he would be running late," Scott finished. "Needed to do more checking."

"On Theo?" asked Malia. He nodded.

Kira looked over to him. "I thought you guys spoke to him already?"

"Yeah, we did," he sighed out. "Theo told us everything, and he wasn't lying. His heart was steady the entire time, but Stiles still thinks he's not telling us truth."

"So, how was Driver's Ed?" Kira asked Malia with a smile.

Malia didn't answer. She just sat down and went to pull out her textbook.

Scott narrowed his eyes at her. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, totally fine," she nodded before opening her book.

Kira and Scott shared a look before bending their heads back down to continue studying. Both of them had their Biology textbooks out and were trying to study and prepare for the test their teacher was giving tomorrow. Scott still couldn't shake their AP Biology class that morning, how their teacher verbally drilled at him in front of everyone, and her speech to them about the test showing who didn't belong there with her casting a look his way.

As for Malia, her mind was barely on the words in her book. It was on what she saw when she had been behind the wheel. What happened to her back there? What did she see, and why did it scare her?

In the midst of it, Stiles walked into the library and headed right for them. He slammed two forms right in front of them.

"So you found something?" Scott said, half interested.

"Another signature," he told them. "This is Theo's dad's signature on a speeding ticket from eight years ago. And this is his dad's signature on a transfer form to Beacon Hills High School from just a few days ago," he explained as he pointed the marks out on each form.

"How did you get his transfer form?" Kira asked him.

Scott huffed. "[Did you break into the Administration Office?](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DimpledEarlyGalapagosalbatross-size_restricted.gif)"

"No, [I did not break into the Administration Office](https://66.media.tumblr.com/5c7c9b4481511ada19107c3e2af4a7ad/tumblr_nqqiupYRuJ1t27ahco2_250.gif)." Scott, Kira and Malia looked at him disbelievingly and Stiles rolled his eyes. "Okay, I might have broken into the Administration Office. [Can we just focus](http://33.media.tumblr.com/fb305842358675f8d5e2e32fe23f9b21/tumblr_nqqiupYRuJ1t27ahco4_250.gif) on the signatures, please? They're different."

Malia tilted her head a bit. "They're, sort of different."

"No, they're completely different. Look, the garlands don't even match. The undulations of the sinuous stroke are totally off. And look at this." He then ran his finger across the signature on the transfer form. "[The perfect example of the Criminal Tremor](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DizzyHelplessEft-size_restricted.gif)." Stiles could see it. The one that signed the speeding ticket is not the same person who signed the transfer forms.

Scott closed his eyelids so he wouldn't show he was rolling his eyes, Malia just stared at him and Kira blinked as she looked at the papers.

"So, now Theo is Theo but his parents aren't his parents?" she asked him.

"Someone is not someone. And when I figure out who that someone really is, someone's in big trouble."

"But no one's done anything wrong," Scott tried to point out to him.

"Yet," Stiles pressed at him. "And [if Theo's parents are both psychotic killers, then obviously, we should not trust him, right?](http://reallylatereviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/tumblr_nqsd281ksQ1s8bfzko3_500.gif)"

"My parents are Peter and the Desert Wolf," Malia pointed out.

That made Scott and Kira give him a look and Stiles went to rub at his eyes furiously. He didn't need his senses to know that they were all full of doubt and disbelief.

"Okay…it's fine. Forget it. I'll figure it out myself. Alright." He went to gather up the papers. "[I don't need you, or you, or you](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_stiles_doesnt_need_anyone.gif)," he said impatiently, pointing to each one. "I don't need anyone," he huffed out before he stormed off.

This left the three of them staring off after him, awkwardly.

"What do you think he's going to do?" Kira asked as she looked over at Scott.

He let out a deep breath. "I think I have an idea."

Stiles had walked two steps passed the doors when he heard someone call out to him.

"Hey." It was Liam. "Want some help?" He had found them a while ago and had listened in on them.

Stiles let out a deep and stressed sigh. "Come on."

Mason was roaming through the halls, trying to find where his best friend ran off to in such a hurry when he noticed him on the other side of it, following after Stiles. He watched after them, curiously.

Stiles led himself and Liam out of the school and to his jeep. Stiles might've shut his car door a little harder than necessary, but he was a little too angry to care.

"Uh, do you mind if we swing by my house first? I kind of need some new pants."

Stiles looked down to see that he was wearing a pair school shorts. "I don't want to know, do I?"

Liam shook his head and Stiles nodded before he moved to start his jeep up.

* * *

Tracy was visited by her dad in her room before he headed out. He explained to her that he had to meet a client at the courthouse but would be back soon. She nodded but didn't say a word, still feeling a little freaked over everything that she'd gone through today.

Outside, Jordan was watching from his jeep at a respectful distance. He saw Tracy's father heading out and prepared himself to keep watch if anything tried to get into Tracy's room again. He then heard a beep from his phone and saw that Lydia had sent a text to him. It read that she would be there to see him at midnight. And that she would have his Americano black. He couldn't resist the deep smile as he finished reading it. He then moved to keep watch on Tracy's house.

He didn't notice that Tracy was standing in the middle of the street, behind him. She had a blank expression on her face as she stared at him. He was looking through his binoculars at her house so he didn't witness as she turned around and started to walk off like a zombie.

* * *

Theo was reaching into the back of his van and pulling out a parcel wrapped in brown paper. He gave a look around before closing the door and heading off.

"So, he is up to something," Stiles said as he watched him take off into the woods.

"We just spent 3 hours watching this guy play video games in his bedroom. He better be out here to cover up a mass murder," Liam huffed from where they were hiding in the brush.

"Let's find out. Remember, keep back and downwind. We don't want him to pick up your scent."

"Yeah, I know," mumbled Liam.

The two of them slowly followed after Theo for about fifteen minutes, without saying a word. Stiles still had Theo's scent but, even if he didn't, he was making easy enough tracks to follow. The ground was still damp and soft from the heavy rain the previous night. Liam was slagging behind, his face leaking aggravation and Stiles easily took notice.

"Just a shot in the dark here Liam, but you didn't really come with me because you wanted to spend the night helping me watch this guy."

Liam stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened at him. "What? Yeah." Stiles then stopped and turned around to give him a look of disbelief. "Okay, no," he sighed in defeat.

"So, what's up?" Stiles asked as he walked off again.

"Lots of things," Liam mumbled as he followed after him again. His mind replaying his first day back at school and Hayden. Those weren't his most pressing problem though. "But it's Mason. He's…getting closer," he hesitantly said.

"Closer? What are you talking about?"

"Today, he noticed some things in the place where that werewolf attacked Scott and Kira last night. He knows something happened."

Stiles stopped in his tracks. "Wait, you still haven't told him?"

"No, I haven't…" Liam pushed down the rush of anxiety that he was feeling and took a breath to calm himself. "I haven't told him."

"Why? We said it was okay."

"I know, it's just, it's just a lot to take in. A lot to accept," he said, trailing off.

"Liam, six months ago Mason watched as my dad and Mr. Tate attacked and blew up a Berserker with exploding knives and a landmine. I think the groundwork's been pretty thoroughly laid out for acceptance." Liam kept his gaze dropped as he nervously looked down at the ground. "Look, it's okay. If you're scared then me and Scott could help-"

Liam quickly cut him off. "I'm not scared," he said, his voice a bit higher than normal.

"You're scared," said Stiles, not missing a beat. "Scared that if you tell him, he's not going to look at you and see his friend anymore. He'll only see a monster." That made Liam look back down. "I felt that way too. Back before my dad found out and everyone was telling me I should tell him. Scott had to deal with it too. It's scary, but believe me, it's always better when they know. Besides, Mason is not an idiot. And with how he's circling around everything, he's bound to find out eventually. When he does, it should be from you."

Stiles then moved to get back on the trail and Liam shook himself out of it and frantically followed.

"Yeah, but what if he freaks out?! What if he doesn't want to talk to me?! What if he tries to stab me with something silver?! Or what if-"

[But he got cut off there](https://data.whicdn.com/images/195951864/original.gif). Stiles quickly turned around to find that Liam was gone. He stepped back and found Liam was down in a hole.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Stiles barked at him. [Liam just shrugged at him](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ComposedInfatuatedIndigobunting-size_restricted.gif). "Seriously, do you always have to go and get stuck in a hole in the ground?"

"That was  _one_  time," Liam said indignantly.

Stiles looked off to the side and could feel that Theo had stopped moving. He was close. "[Stop screwing around](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/InsistentGenuineHeterodontosaurus-max-1mb.gif) and come on." He then took off.

Liam sighed as he looked around for his phone, which he dropped. He found it semi-buried and picked it up and began trying to wipe out the mud stuck to it. He turned it on and found that he had almost twenty messages from Mason. He then remembered that they had made plans to hang out at the school gym but he had bolted after Mason came to him with all that new research he did. He sighed before he went to activate his phone's flashlight app. When it came on, he spotted a glint and found that it was from a necklace on the ground. He wondered what it was doing there but he shook his head. Stiles was waiting for him. [He went and leapt out of the hole](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/LightheartedEarnestHind-small.gif) and moved to catch up to him.

Stiles was standing behind a tree, watching as Theo came up to a wooden bridge over a river. He couldn't sense or detect anyone else around so Theo wasn't meeting up with anybody. He was just staring out over the water. Liam started stomping over for him and Stiles quickly shushed him.

"What's he doing?" Liam whispered to him.

"I don't know," Stiles whispered back. "Let's see if his scent can tell us anything."

Liam took a few sniffs of the air. "Well…he has nice soap."

Stiles' jaw hardened as he rolled his eyes. "Not  _that_  scent. His chemo signature."

Theo then took out the brown parcel and started to unwrap it. Liam's eyes narrowed as it started rushing at him like an ocean wave.

"He's…sad. There's something else too. I, I think it's…"

Stiles widened his eyes. "Grief." He then saw Theo take out a flower from the parcel and throw it out into the water. He realized what was going on and turned to Liam. "We have to go. Right now."

Liam blinked as Stiles started to walk away and he followed after him. Once they were gone, Theo then turned his head in the direction that they had just been.

As they walked Liam kept pushing for Stiles to tell him what was wrong.

"Stiles…what is it? What's going on?"

Stiles sighed. "His sister. It's the bridge where they found her body in the river. She fell and died from exposure. He's leaving a flower for her."

"Uh, that doesn't sound evil Stiles."

"Yeah, I know." Stiles grit his teeth. He could already hear Scott laying it on him now. He wouldn't never hear the end of this.

They got a few more yards out before they just stopped when they saw someone standing on a low tree right in front of them. It was Theo and it looked like he had just caught them red handed, spying on him. Theo jumped down and landed in a slight crutch. Stiles was already preparing for the inevitable fallout.

[Theo just smiled as he lightly stood up](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/SillyOilyEel-size_restricted.gif). "What are you guys doing?" he asked, his tone sounding curious.

Stiles narrowed his eyes. That wasn't the reaction he was expecting. Theo then started to walk towards them and his instincts flared up. The sadness and grief Theo had were gone. He was calm and blank. Something wasn't right about that and he braced himself.

Liam felt Stiles tense up beside him and the wolf in him be on guard. That seemed to make his own wolf stir and he found himself moving to stand in front of him. To defend the head Beta of his pack, his lupine superior, from what he clearly sees is a threat. He moved to glare right at Theo, stopping his advance.

"Whoa," he said as he rose his hands up in surrender. But he didn't lose the smile. "[Why do I get the feeling this kid's tougher than he looks](http://33.media.tumblr.com/d6817012cb472fcc0a2e9edc979724d5/tumblr_nqro6nlHy11s1ab16o2_500.gif)?"

[Stiles moved his hand to Liam's shoulder](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FlatMelodicAlabamamapturtle-size_restricted.gif). Liam moved to catch Stiles in the eye, subconsciously telling him to stand down. Liam and his wolf both felt the need to comply with his wish and took a step back, allowing Stiles to stand in front of him to face Theo.

"Only when we let him off the leash. Besides, its really me you should be worrying about."

"Stiles, we were in Little League together. Why are you so suspicious of me?"

Stiles rose an eyebrow at that. He felt it again. The same eerie feeling he had when Theo talked to Scott and told his story of being bitten and recalling a memory of them together earlier. The embarrassment and discomfort he had before from stumbling upon Theo's private moment vanished. He reached into his pocket. "Because of these." He pulled out the forms and handed them to him. "One's a speeding ticket signed by your dad eight years ago. The other one's a signature on a transfer form to Beacon High. They're different."

Theo looked at the signatures on the two forms. They were similar enough to fool a passing glance, but for someone paying close attention, they would raise a red flag. "Yeah, they do look a little different," he said, keeping his voice, and his heart, steady.

"No, they're totally different. They were signed by two different people."

Theo just smiled and tried to laugh it all off. "So, my dad's not my dad? Like he's an imposter, or something like that? Who do you think I am?"

"We don't know, yet," Stiles said, not missing a beat.

"Want me to give you a DNA sample or something?" Theo tried to joke.

But Stiles shook his head. "No, I don't have anything from the fourth grade to match it to," he said in a serious tone.

Theo could feel the ferocity underneath Stiles' somewhat calm composure. Sensing it, a part of Theo wanted to get as far away as he could. Stiles found an opening and he didn't waste any time using it to pounce. He couldn't help but admire that predator like instinct, but he knew he had keep his emotions pushed down and his focus on his heart steady, so Stiles didn't find another. He had readied a plan in case of something like this.

Theo nodded his head a bit before looking up at him. "You know Stiles, I came back here for Scott, but [I also came back for you](https://66.media.tumblr.com/6d9a9bfb8a099a89b74769029167f9dc/tumblr_inline_nqrzopl4eB1to74h4_540.gif)."

Stiles rose his eyebrows at him. "Oh, did you?"

"Yeah. Scott wasn't only one that I heard stories about. And seeing you out here, trudging through the woods at night to try and look out for your friends, I see that they're true." He then smiled. "You guys are the reason I wanted to come here so badly. I'm meant to be in this pack." Stiles just kept his eyes narrowed at him and Liam seemed to follow his example. Theo just sighed. "Anyway, it's getting late. I better go. My parents will be waiting for me, or well, whoever they are," he tossed in playfully before he started walking off.

[Stiles kept his hard gaze](https://media.giphy.com/media/FCof4a74BUZC8/giphy.gif) as he watched Theo walk off. He didn't hear any changes to his heart and wasn't sensing anything off him at all, through all of that. He was definitely convinced. Something is not right with this guy.

Liam let out a sigh next to him. "So, what now?" he asked him. "Follow him and make sure he goes back home?"

"No. That's it for tonight." Besides, it would be pointless now to keep watching him. Theo knows he was followed and, if he's as guilty as Stiles thinks he is, then he won't risk doing anything for the rest of the night. "Let's head back."

"Hey," Liam said as they made the trek back to the jeep. "Do you mind dropping me off at the school? Mason's there working out and I forgot. He's left me like a dozen messages, he probably thinks I ditched him."

"Yeah okay. And Liam?" He paused a bit to let himself catch Liam's eye. "Don't worry so much about Mason. He seems like a cool guy to me. And it's me, so that should tell you something."

The two of them walked off for another twenty minutes before they made it to the jeep. But there was someone else already there, just sitting on his bike, waiting for them.

Scott couldn't help but feel disappointed that not only did he go and stalk Theo, he dragged Liam into it too. "Find anything?" he asked.

"Nope," Stiles said before pulling out his keys and heading for his car.

Liam shrugged. "[I fell in a hole](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_liam_fell_in_a_hole.gif)," he said awkwardly. No one seemed to pay attention to him.

Scott moved over to Stiles after he climbed into his driver's seat. "It was the bridge where his sister died, wasn't it?"

"Yes it was. Very embarrassing, so we're going to leave now." Stiles then moved to start his jeep up, but it didn't start. "Son of a…Liam, just do me a favor," he called out to him before he stepped out. "Just, get in the car and turn the ignition when I say."

Liam moved to follow his directions while Stiles headed to look under his hood.

"Stiles?" Scott called out to him.

"Be with you in a sec," he said, keeping his gaze on the engine as he tried to loosen and retighten the spark plug. "Try it," he called out.

Liam turned the ignition but the jeep still didn't start.

"Stiles?" Scott tried again.

"Yes," Stiles huffed out but kept his gaze away from him. "Okay, we followed him out here. What do you want me to say Scott? Huh, that I'm a stalker. That I'm crazy? Totally paranoid? None of this is exactly new information, so why are you trying to act surprised?" He went back to try fiddling with his engine.

Scott watched him calmly. "So, now can you [at least  _try_  to give him the benefit of the doubt?](https://38.media.tumblr.com/36b8ea98d221aa42f5a7b705e50e74dc/tumblr_nqrg3q3YUS1roqa2ko1_250.gif)" he asked.

Stiles took a deep breath as he felt an urge come over him to just slam his fist down into the engine but he pulled it back. "I give people the benefit of the doubt. [I've given a lot of benefit, to a lot of people](https://66.media.tumblr.com/0aab7e00934b912c6a5c8b66067156cd/tumblr_nqqk5zhifw1r61e8qo2_250.gif). Especially when they didn't deserve it." He then turned away again.

Scott nodded. "Like Allison?" he said making Stiles freeze up. "Derek? Kira? Liam?"

Stiles let out a puff from his nose before looking back over at him. "Derek? Remind me again, which of us was the first one that didn't trust him and accused him of being a killer?" he asked patronizingly. Scott didn't answer. "Besides, I was right about Peter. I called it, loud and clear, but no one listened. Try it again!" he howled out to Liam.

Liam had been listening in on them. All of those names he knew, save for one. ' _Who's Allison?_ ' he thought to himself. But he jumped when Stiles yelled out to him to try the ignition. He quickly did but the jeep still didn't start.

Stiles shook his head. "You know, I bet you still think that there's something about him that can be saved."

"Maybe," Scott said simply.

"And Kate? Gerard? Them too? After everything they did?" he asked breathlessly.

Scott shrugged. "Maybe," he said again. "Allison's dad was."

Stiles grit his teeth as he angrily fiddled with another part. "Try it again!" he shouted to Liam.

He quickly tried the ignition but the jeep still wouldn't start. Stiles' aggravation grew.

Scott could sense it building in him. "Why can't you trust anyone?" he asked.

Stiles lost it. "Because you trust everyone!" He then went and slammed his fist down into the engine, hard. "Ahh!" he hissed as he had brought it down on a sharp and jagged piece and had cut it.

Scott could easily smell the blood already leaking out. "Whoa, let me see."

But Stiles pulled his hand away. "It's fine. It'll start healing in a bit."

"But I can-"

"I said I'm fine," Stiles bit out.

Stiles then moved his other hand to try to fiddle with engine while he placed his injured hand at the edge. The pain in it was running strong but Stiles pushed it off to a corner of his mind, like he was used to doing. As his cut hand laid there, Scott could see that two of the knuckles were cut open and threads of blood were running down to his wrist. Scott guessed it must really be hurting but Stiles was just feeling more angry and upset than hurt. Scott moved to grasp his hand and [Scott quickly worked on pulling pain from him](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_bro_hands_3.gif). Scott hissed as he felt the sting from Stiles' pain hit his nerves but didn't stop. Stiles quickly tried to pull his hand away but Scott tightened his grip, making sure he couldn't pull it away. [Stiles felt some of the tension lightening off him](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_bro_hands_4.gif) and he flex the fingers of his hand to find it hurt less. Scott then lightly let go and took a breath as the pain he pulled ebbed away. They then stared at Stiles' hand to see the skin quickly knitting itself back up and the blood disappearing. After a few seconds, it looked like Stiles' hand never had been injured at all. They then slowly went to look each other, calmly. Before anything else could be done, the engine seemed to roar to life.

"Alright, move over Liam." Stiles then moved to close the hood before looking back at Scott. "I have to drop him off."

"Okay." Scott sighed a bit sadly.

Liam had scooched over into the passenger seat as Stiles climbed inside and Scott moved to put his helmet on. They all then rode off, and a moment after they did, a wolf started to step out from the shadows. It had been watching them, the whole time, without any of them noticing. It heard the sounds of the jeep and motorbike in the distance and it leapt off to try and catch up to one of them.

* * *

Maggie hung up her phone and let her head fall into her hands, and heaved out a sigh of frustration and stress. She had just gotten a call from Alan Deaton and he just told her that Riley Astor's talons have been found. A werewolf had them and had tried to use their power to drain away the powers of the True Alpha, Scott McCall. After ten years, the talons have surfaced again. How was it possible that a werewolf had them? Riley Astor had been killed by the Argents and had his wings and talons torn from his corpse as trophies and keepsakes. Deaton told her that he was going to try and track down Chris Argent to try and find out more.

She had to wonder if she should send word to Zeke. He had been trying to find his older brother's wings and talons for years. After all, Riley had been the only family he had left and was left alone at the age of ten. He traveled and searched through every rumored foothold and sighting of the Argents, to find them. Almost to the point of obsession. But, when word reached out that the Argent hunter family were all but destroyed, he had finally started to begin to settle down. She heard that he had just started college over two weeks ago. If she told him, then he would drop it all and fly right for Beacon Hills instantly to get his brother's talons and begin hunting for his wings. No. She couldn't do that to him. She would wait. Deaton had the talons, so she knew they were safe. Perhaps the wings will surface next and Deaton will have the McCall pack retrieve them as well.

Maggie shook her head in vain to shake the stress building in her out. And all this on top of worrying about Oscar and what he was scheming. She had told Charlie the truth, and while he promised he wouldn't say anything, he also said that he might not be spying on Oscar for her anymore either. Charlie, she felt, wouldn't do anything to endanger Derek, Cora or Jason. But, it was clear that even if he might not 'love' Oscar, he was still loyal to his Alpha and his pack.

* * *

Stiles' jeep pulled up in front of the school and Liam sighed as he didn't leave right away.

"I think that maybe you were right," he mumbled.

"Yeah of course I am," Stiles nodded. "Right about what?"

"About Mason. I should just, go and tell him everything."

"You mean, right now?" Liam didn't answer, but his face gave Stiles his answer. "Do want me to go with you?"

Liam looked over at him. "Yeah, I would, but, he's my best friend. I got to do this by myself."

Stiles nodded. "Okay."

Liam then stepped out of his jeep and closed the door behind him but turned to stick his head through the window. "Hey, for what its worth, I think there might be something off about that guy too." He then moved to head into the school.

As he watched him go off, Stiles let a small grin slide on his face. "I like that kid," he mumbled after him, before driving on off.

Mason finally got a response text from Liam and headed out to meet with him. He shrugged as he thought it was better late than never. After he saw him leave with Stiles, he decided to go and do a little more digging. He'd heard the rumors a few times about the guy. About how he had gone and helped to catch the woman who started the infamous Hale Fire and came back and killed a bunch of people almost two years ago. Well, he tried to find out more but he wasn't able to find out much. It looked like a lot had been kept out of the news and public records, probably to try and protect him because he was a minor. Something was going on, with Stiles, Lydia, and everything that happened last term, and he was starting to think that Liam might know what it was. The nervous reactions when he tries to bring this stuff up to him and sudden lame excuses making more sense now.

The school was pretty much empty now as Mason got outside into the parking lot and found Liam running over to him.

"Hey man," Liam said as he came over. "I'm sorry. I completely forgot about you wanting to work out tonight."

"Well I did. Work out. For two hours."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I had to take care of something."

"With Stiles?" he asked, making Liam's eyes widen. "I saw you leave school with him."

"Yeah I did, and I have a good reason for that."

Mason rolled his eyes. "Which let me guess, you can't tell me."

Liam quickly shook his head. "No, no that's just it. I'm going to tell you. Everything. It's just…there's a lot. And you're probably not going to believe some of it. I, just don't know where to start."

Mason's eyes widened a bit. "There's a wolf."

"Yeah, I'm going to get to that," he nodded.

But Mason shook his head. "No, there's a wolf, right behind you."

Liam's face dropped as he went to turn around, and sure enough, there really was a wolf right behind them. "That's a wolf," he squeaked out and Mason nodded.

It stared at the two of them for a moment before it let a small growl loose, showing its sharp teeth. The next moment, the two boys went and broke into a hard run. They threw themselves through the school doors and charged down the halls as the wolf pursued them. Liam and Mason kept running, not looking back, but they could easily hear the wolf growling behind them.

Liam realized that they couldn't keep running and the wolf might just catch one of them. Catch Mason. And that thought caused him to stop in his tracks.

Mason kept running though but he stopped when he realized his friend wasn't beside him anymore. He turned around to see that Liam turned around to face the wolf down, the one now running at him. He was about to cry out to him to run but he then saw Liam let out a hard roar. He had sprouted fangs, his eyes glowed golden yellow, and there were some claws at the end of his fingers, as[ he roared at the wolf](https://www.purefandom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Screen-Shot-2015-06-30-at-10.52.09.png). The animal stopped in its tracks and started to back away slowly before it went and took off. Mason let out a hard gasp, which Liam heard and quickly shifted back as he turned to fully face him.

"Uh, there's something I have to tell you," he mumbled nervously.

Mason let out another breathless gasp as his face widened. "[You're a werewolf](https://66.media.tumblr.com/57cdc9176c861bbafe1b56f29c942ab4/tumblr_inline_nqshoa3rrU1snjmql_250.gif)," he said in realization.

Liam saw that his friend's face break into astonishment. A small and excited grin seemed to find its way onto Mason as he looked at him that only seemed to get wider and more excited every passing moment. Liam found his own face breaking into a smile as he couldn't pick up a single whiff of fear as his best friend looked at him.

* * *

The wolf left the school grounds and escaped off into woods. [It ran through the trees](https://31.media.tumblr.com/152cb992ac274bb2485ee029497a897f/tumblr_nqs6x5EPZA1tw5rq0o4_500.gif) until it made it over to the wooden bridge. It started slow down and stopped when it got to the center. It then started to twist around until its limbs stretched out and he was [back to his human form](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_theo_wolf_1.gif).

Theo slowly got to his feet and took a deep breath before he looked over back at the direction he came from. [He then let a smile creep up on him right before he turned away](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/BewitchedDistortedDamselfly-small.gif). From what he saw, Liam seemed ready to follow Stiles' lead in keeping his guard up around him, especially after Stiles' little breakthrough. One suspicious mind was simple enough to work around but two would be tricky. At least now, with him forcing Liam to shift in front of his friend, the young beta had something to distract him. Liam's focus will now be more on his friend and less on him. It would relieve him of some the heat in the short run. Stiles though, he was still going to be an issue but Theo was sure that what the Doctors were setting into motion would distract him well enough.

He then ran off to go and collect his clothes where he had left them. He had to return to his house and have a little talk with those "parents" of his.

* * *

Virgil Edelman was kneeling as he laid a bouquet of multi-colored daisies on top of a grave marker in the ground that had two names pressed into it. The date of their death being identical, roughly a year and a half ago. It was quiet in the cemetery, and empty. Virgil appeared to be the only one there but visiting hours were close to being up so it wasn't that big of a surprise. He had a night where he didn't have to work late at the garage, with no pay, so he decided to use it and see his dad and grandmother.

"Hope you like them dad. I know you love em Grandma," he mumbled. "Daises were always your favorite." He then cleared his throat. "Oh, and dad, I finished fixing up that bike I found. I'm sure you would be impressed; I know I am." He then reached for his pouch and pulled out the deck of tarot cards. "And grandma, I started to carry around your deck with me. You always told me that they're the real deal, I still don't know if I believe that, but I guess they help keep me company in this town. Maybe I'll try giving readings on the side like you did. And dad, laugh it up because I know you are," he rolled his eyes at the marker but was smiling nonetheless.

After a few more minutes, Virgil got up, waved his dad and grandmother goodbye, and started to head off, out of the cemetery. He walked over to where he had parked the motorcycle he had just mentioned to his father. He could still remember the day he found it. It was a little less than a year ago. He had been over at the local junkyard, looking in the hoods of junked cars for parts to salvage when he came upon an abandoned bike. The body was banged up and deeply scratched like someone went and took a barbed bat to it. The bike he could tell was a new and expensive model. One he never would have been able to afford, beautiful but trashed and then just dumped away. Virgil wondered who it could've belonged to. He vaguely remembered seeing a pair of similar looking bikes in the parking lot at the high school but stopped seeing them around before the year was half over. The machine didn't seem like it was too far gone to work again so he took it to try and fix it. He spent his free time working on it, repairing the broken engine components, replacing the shredded body, applying a coat of midnight blue paint, and after eight months it now rode like a dream.

When Virgil reached his bike and readied his helmet, he took a moment to look back towards the cemetery. He let a deep sigh escape him before he moved to start up his bike's engine. Yet before he could actually turn the key, he froze. He narrowed his eyes as he felt something stir in his chest. The feeling made him look up at a place in the trees by the road up ahead. After a moment, someone stepped out of them. Virgil could dimly make out that it was a guy, roughly around his own age. The guy didn't seem to notice him, or if he did then he didn't care. He just started walking off down the road, likely heading into the nearby neighborhood. Something about the way he looked seemed shady.

"Coming out of the woods, alone, and walking down the dark road. Cliché much," he mumbled. He then reached down into the pouch strapped to his waist and pulled out his grandmother's tarot deck. "What's your deal?"

He kept his eyes on the guy's shrinking dark figure as he shuffled the deck. Virgil was resisting the urge to roll his eyes and he kept his gaze focused on him. If he had to guess, the kid was either trying to make himself believe he was tough by being alone at night, or was actually far from it and had a far from impressive story. Without looking down at the deck, he drew the top card. He rose it to his face and his eyes moved from the figure to see what his card was.

"Card is…[Five of Swords](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5916d4da2994ca3bd87b3a87/591b5e15ebbd1a818a8341e9/595bd16b099c0165c82420b0/1499443314387/IMG_0270.PNG?format=1500w)?" he mumbled. "Upright."

As he stared at it, Virgil felt a sudden rush of fear. Like the kind one gets when they suddenly hear multiple screams of terror. You don't know why everyone's screaming but you know that you would too if you did. As he felt it, the guy seemed to stop walking and then turn to look his way. Virgil then jammed his helmet on and started his bike. He revved the bike up and rode off in the opposite direction, to get as far away from this guy as possible. As he took off down the road, his gut was telling him whoever that guy was, he wasn't as shady as he had looked, he was worse.

Theo narrowed his eyes as he saw the motorcycle took off. The high anxiety that guy had given off had drawn his attention, but the rider was already moving to leave when he did. After a moment, Theo shook it off. Whoever that guy was, he didn't look or smell familiar. Probably just some local guy. Nothing to be concerned about then. He was close to his house and he just wanted to get his last bit of business of the night done before getting some rest after a long day.

* * *

Scott made it back home where Kira, was still waiting for him.

"Everything okay?" she asked him.

"Yeah, everything's fine."

She nodded. "Stiles, he okay?"

His face fell a bit but he nodded. "Uh, yeah. He's good now. So, c'mon. We going to study?" Kira smiled as she followed after him into his room.

The plan had been to study together so they could be ready for the biology test, but they quickly ended up lightly making out on his bed. After a while, she separated from him and laid calmly at his side.

"So, how come you never told me that you wanted to go to UC Davis?" she asked as she moved to cuddle into him.

"It's a really good school. Not too far from the Bay Area."

"It also has the best program for biological and physical sciences. Perfect for someone that wants to be a veterinarian. Why didn't you tell me? Were you worried what I would think?"

Scott's face softened. "No, not at all. It's actually because…I'm worried I'm not smart enough to make it."

Kira could easily see the embarrassment in his eyes. She knew how hard he worked this summer to push his GPA to get into this course. And she remembered how he had organized and ordered his textbook with highlighters and sticky notes. He was trying so hard and guessed that his confidence wasn't too great after their first class today.

She leaned in to him. "You'll make it," she said confidently.

Scott smiled at her as he went to try and kiss her again. But she held him down and moved to straddle him and he sat up straight to be only inches from her. [Kira then moved to pull her top off](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/BitterAnyFly-small.gif) and she stared down at him. Scott found himself staring at her, knowing what was going to happen. He found himself feeling a little nervous. It would be his first time since…Alison. And, it would be Kira's first time too.

"Are you-" he started to ask.

But Kira moved her index finger to his lips. She was a little nervous but she did want to do this. She smiled as she nodded before moving to turn off the lamp at his bedside. But, sparks flew from her hand as she touched it and the light bulb blew. The two of them jumped before they went and burst into giggles. [Their nerves were loosened and they moved to heavily kiss one another](https://em.wattpad.com/33401da400aef44fdef54d3acf24da95211e2137/687474703a2f2f36362e6d656469612e74756d626c722e636f6d2f38633938373865656632336132323534363838343136303062356637623432302f74756d626c725f6f656a6d727732487a33317637397362616f355f72315f3430302e676966?s=fit&h=360&w=720&q=80). Their lips then pulled away from each other with a hard smack.

"I want to have fun," Kira said, almost laughing.

Scott let loose a toothy smile at that before he reached down and yanked off his shirt. Kira took a moment to look at him before he pulled her to the side. He quickly laid her flat on the bed and began to hover over her. Scott looked down at Kira and he smiled down at her lovingly while she did the same back up at him. Kira moved to let her hands glide across his back while Scott rubbed his down Kira's side and across her legs. He then moved down to kiss her lips before lowering himself down to kiss her jaw, then her neck, and made it over to her shoulders. He then pulled the straps of her bra down and kissed the spot that it had been before moving down for the edge of her left breast. Kira let out a deep sigh as she closed her eyes and her body seemed to lean further into him. Scott then moved to pull her bra fully off and he moved to kiss her lips again, making her bare chest have full contact with his.

That seemed to intensify everything. Kira found herself moving her hands to his pants and she moved to unbuckle his belt and open them before she began to push them down. Scott pulled away from her lips with a gasp and he moved to finish taking them off himself, leaving himself in his boxer briefs. He moved over to the drawer at the side and pulled out a familiar foil package. He moved to open it before he took his boxers off and put it on. Kira had gone to take off her shorts and was laying back down as Scott moved over to position himself between her legs. He hovered over her but wasn't making a move to go further. He caught her eye, silently asking her if she was sure that she didn't want to stop. Kira answered by moving her hand to the back of his neck to pull him in for another kiss. Scott let his tongue dance with hers for a bit as he teased her by rubbing against her entrance. She whimpered for a bit as she felt him start to push in slightly but he kept kissing her. He slowly pushed in, little by little, until he bottomed out. He stayed still, giving her time to adjust a bit and get used to the pressure. After a moment, Kira moved her legs wrap around him and he began to move. He started slow but he soon began to pick up the pace a bit. He let himself pound away and let loose his frustrations of his worries about school and about Stiles' mistrust of Theo all out into Kira. She soon began to cry out a bit and that fed the need for him to groan with every thrust.

Thankfully, this was Scott's mom night for the late night shift at the hospital. So there was no need for them to try and be quiet.

* * *

Lydia arrived to find Jordan watching Tracy's house and she handed him his coffee.

"How's it been?" she asked as she settled next to him.

"As far as I can tell, no one's gone in and no one's come out."

Lydia sighed. It looked like there might not have been a problem after all. "Sorry. We could've used tonight to look more into Satomi's texts but instead we spent it keeping watch on a house. I wasted your time."

He smiled and shook his head. "It wasn't a total waste. We helped Tracy and made sure she was okay. I'm happy about that. And that research will still be there for us tomorrow."

[Lydia stared lightly at him](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/RemorsefulFarawayJohndory-size_restricted.gif) as he moved to take a sip of the coffee she brought him. She wouldn't deny what her mother said about Jordan. He was handsome and he didn't even really need the uniform, though she wouldn't turn away when he was in it either, but he was different from the others she had been with. Jackson and Aiden, yes, they were each handsome too. No more or less than Jordan, but they both seemed to have trouble being good and seemed to have to put effort into caring about other people. For Jordan, helping and caring about other people, it came second nature to him. He didn't even need to try. It's who he was. And it seemed to make him all the more handsome to her.

Lydia then reached into her purse and pulled out one of Satomi's books on South American Mythology. "Well, it's midnight, so it's technically tomorrow. I don't think Tracy would mind us reading while we watch her."

She and Jordan shared a small smile and she nudged over to him as she opened the book up for them both to read together.

* * *

Tracy came to and realized that she was laying on some cold hard floor. She rose her head and saw that she was in some kind of warehouse or lab. There were tanks filled with green liquid and she could see rows of sharp picks and tools scattered about. The sight of it all made her start to freak out. She tried to get to her feet but started hearing heavy footsteps, and a sound that sounded like electrical crackling. When she managed to get fully to her feet, she saw a man dressed in leather coming out from around one of the tanks. He had tubes wrapped around his body that seemed to hook up and connect with a dark metal mask on his head. The sight of him made her want to scream but it didn't seem to be able to come out. She found also found that she couldn't seem to move as he slowly stomped for her.

She started shaking her head. "There's nothing there," she said to herself. "There's nothing." The figure stopped walking until it was right in front of her. This just had to be another bad dream. But, then two other masked figures moved to stand at either side of her, trapping her between them. "Oh god," she cried. The first one then reached into his coat and produced some kind of metal instrument that had a very long needle at the end of it. Tracy now began to shed tears of fear. "It's not real," she cried. "I'm sleeping. I'm just sleeping."

"No Tracy," the first masked man told her. "You're awakening."

He then went and grabbed her hand. Tracy tried to pull away but the other two figures grabbed her and moved to push her down to the floor. She cried as she felt the needle pierce her neck and begin injecting a silver liquid into her.

As it flooded into her system, Tracy had flashes suddenly hit her. Her dreams and hallucinations at her home and the school. The banging at her skylight and the claw marks at the lockers. It wasn't something else that did those things. It was her. She had done those things, with her claws. She just blocked them out and her mind made up the other things to try and hide them from her. But she now remembered, and when the injection was finished, she was let go by the masked figures. [Tracy then straightened up and let out a hard roar](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_tracy_monster_reveal.gif), as she felt herself coursing with new strength and power.

The Dread Doctors seemed pleased at the sight of their subjects fangs, claws and glowing eyes. Perhaps this subject would be the one.

* * *

Stiles was making some notes on his crime board. The two forms were already taped onto it. He had pulled the board out of his closet and had to wipe away the lingering notes left on Malia's mother, The Desert Wolf, before he started using it.

About three months ago, before summer, he and Malia had hit an impasse in their investigation. There hadn't been any more clues or things for them to go on. While Peter had told Malia that he knew where to find her, they guessed that he had only said that to try and gain Malia's trust and wasn't serious. There hadn't been anything in his things that said otherwise. After weeks of coming up with nothing, Malia gave up and told Stiles that he should to. Naturally he didn't right away, but after she left to go on vacation with her dad and hadn't gotten another lead, he decided to shelf it.

Noah popped his head in and noticed [Theo's name written at the center](https://wolvesandsuch.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/stiles-l-enquete-sur-theo-dans-parasomnia.jpg) of his son's board. "You know, we usually wait for a crime to be committed before accusing anyone of being guilty."

"He is guilty. Of something. Something bad. I can feel it," he said resolutely, as he kept his attention on the board.

"Yeah, well Stiles, facts always trumps instinct." That made Stiles look up over at his father as he leaned against the door frame. "Let it go Stiles. It's late. Get some sleep."

He moved to leave but Stiles stopped him. "Dad," he called out to him.

"Yeah?" he said coming back into the door frame.

"I just found out what was different?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Today, when I sensed something was different. I know what it is now. Your ring. You're not wearing your wedding ring anymore."

Noah looked over at his hand, where there was a mark left behind from years of wearing his ring. He hadn't taken it off and kept it on even after his wife had passed over ten years ago. He had just made the decision to take it off this morning after he realized that he couldn't keep it on if he was going out on a date later this week. He now saw that Stiles sensed that something significant had changed in him, even if he didn't know what it was at the time. All by instinct. The same instinct that was telling him that Theo wasn't what he said he was. Noah knew all too well what happened the last time he refused to take Stiles seriously on something like this.

"Are you sure about your feelings about this guy?" he calmly asked.

Stiles let loose a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I am," he calmly answered.

"Then just be patient. You keep going on like this and you'll run yourself into the ground before you have the chance to do anything about him."

Stiles lowered his gaze. "Satomi told me something like that too, when I told her that I was feeling like something was about to happen. Said I couldn't obsess or I'll drive myself mad."

"So, if two different, responsible and intelligent adults basically tell you the same thing, don't you think you should try listening?" Noah asked with some amusement. Stiles ducked his head a bit as a small chuckle escaped him. Noah's face then got serious again. "Still, if you're right, and this guy is not right, then just wait. He'll make a mistake. People with something to hide always do."

* * *

Theo's "parents" were sitting in front of a table with two forms laid out before them. [The two of them were quiet and nervous as Theo stood off behind them](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*x8WqHJlh4v_ybmdr__6Xvg.jpeg), staring off into the active fireplace. They could easily tell that he was very upset with them.

And Theo wasn't. Months of planning and fine tuning his cover could've all been undone by this stupid mistake. Thankfully, Scott still was fighting against Stiles' mistrust and passing it off as paranoia and past projection like he wanted but it was still too close for comfort. Theo might be able to spin Stiles' evidence in a way to play to his advantage and would soon work on making him appear resentful and jealous in everyone else's eyes, especially Scott's. But there couldn't be any more mistakes.

"You were told to practice," he finally said to them, trying to keep his tone steady as he watched the flames. "It was supposed to be indistinguishable from the original. It was supposed to be perfect."

"I swear, I practiced," his "father" told him. "Hundreds upon hundreds of times."

"I wouldn't say hundreds," his "mother" said, giving the man a short look.

Theo then stepped over to stand right in front of them. "There is one way a false signature can be explained. [It's not easy to write when you're wearing a cast](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_theo_hammer_1.gif)." He then produced a hammer. "[Is it?](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_502_theo_hammer_2.gif)"

At the sight of it, the man gasped and looked over to the woman for help but she turned away. Theo had a hard look on his face and the man went to slowly bring out his right hand out onto the table. The woman cringed and tried to keep herself from looking as Theo moved to stand right over the hand and readied the hammer. The man shut his eyes and started to whimper as he tried to prepare himself for what was about to happen. Theo grunted as he rose the hammer and slammed it right down on the man's fingers.

* * *

Liam laid there on his bed in high spirits. He had started the day thinking that if Mason had learned the truth about him then he would lose his best friend. Earlier, Stiles had hit the nail on the head. He was scared that Mason would look at him and feel nothing but fear. That he wouldn't see his friend anymore, only a monster. But he didn't. Mason had seen him when he was shifted and he hadn't been scared. In fact, he thought he was awesome. Mason had wanted to know everything and Liam had promised to explain it all tomorrow when he had let it all sink in. Mason told him that he might be right, but still looked excited. Today may not have been all that good but he now had one less worry on his shoulders. He was almost too excited and happy to go to sleep. But, eventually he succumbed to it, and his eyes closed shut.

He then opened them to find himself in the forest, standing on a giant stump. The Nemeton. Liam saw there was a small fog about and it seemed to glow from the light of the moon shining overhead. He stepped off the stump and started walking a bit before he stumbled a bit. He managed to stay on his feet and looked back as it felt he had nearly tripped over something. He then took a hard step back when he saw that it was a human body. It looked mauled and shredded beyond recognition. The fog started clearing a bit and Liam saw that the ground was littered with bloody body parts, animal parts. [Pieces of corpses](https://www.hantsjournal.ca/media/photologue/photos/cache/dead-animals-2-2527436_large.jpg) from birds, cats, racoons, lizards, insects, and other various animals were scattered all around but the bulk of them were [wolves](https://scs-assets-cdn.vice.com/int/v21n3/htdocs/how-to-kill-a-wolf/dead-wolves.jpg?resize=320:*). Liam couldn't barely stand looking at this disgusting sight.

But he then heard some kind of sound, like an electric cackling sound, and he turned to see three figures stepping out of the fog. They were dressed in some kind of suits with metallic masks over their faces. In front of them, was a wolf but it was wrong. The limbs, body, tail and head of it all had different colored furs, like it had been made by stitching together pieces from different wolves. Its fur had splatters of blood about, especially on its snout and paws. When its eyes fell on him, they glowed golden yellow. Soon, more…things appeared behind the three figure. All of them seemed to be made of mismatched parts of animals. They were all monsters…and they suddenly charged for Liam at once.

Right then in his bed, Liam's eyes popped open, and quickly sat up in terror. His eyes glowing golden yellow in the dark of his room as he panted hard due to his racing heart.

* * *

A/N: The 'episode' started with a dream, it seemed right that it ended with a dream. Ones that help give clues to try and prepare the pack for what's to come for them all. It felt right for Liam to have this one as he isn't exactly the same, thanks to Stiles' new influence on him.


	7. Scars Run Deep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Stiles look into the attack on Liam and Mason. Scott goes to Deaton where he shed light and revelations on both Stiles and the Hales' family history. Parrish meets Virgil. Theo moves in to begin the next phase of manipulating his way into Scott's pack.

Scott pulled his bike into the parking lot at the school and yanked off his helmet as he took in everything. There weren't too many other cars or people around yet as classes didn't start for over an hour. Scott wanted to head in and do some serious last minute cramming before his Biology test. He and Kira wanted to get together last night to study but they…got lost in the moment. While he didn't regret it, he couldn't help the grin that seemed stuck on his face since he woke up that morning, he knew that he was in a bit of trouble. That's why he decided to skip breakfast and get here early. He hoped that being here at school would help his mind be better focused to prepare for that exam.

Scott headed off to the school quad to find a nice quiet place to sit and study. So far, there were just a bit over a handful of people there. But Scott's eyes narrowed as he was surprised at the sight of Theo, sitting alone at one of the tables, his face hovering over an open text book.

"Theo?" he called out as he headed for him.

Theo rose his head up and gave him a small smile. "Hey Scott."

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he moved to sit down in front of him.

He lifted his biology book with a small smile. "Just some last minute cramming. To make sure I'm ready for the test."

As he put the book back down, Scott saw that the pages of Theo's book had some writing here and there, like footnotes.

"How do you think you'll do?"

Theo shrugged. "I'm pretty confident. Science and I have always had a pretty close relationship," he said, giving a chuckle at his own private joke.

"Yeah, well I wish I could say the same but I don't think science has ever liked me very much," Scott said a little amusingly.

"Oh, well would you like some help?" Theo offered.

Scott smiled. "I would," he said gratefully. He then pulled out his own textbook and Theo's eyes widened a bit at all the highlighted passages and sticky notes inside the pages of the book. "Hey," he said as he began to turn to the right page. "About last night, at the bridge,"

Theo quickly held up a hand to stop him. "Scott, it's alright. I get it. Stiles, he was just trying to look out for everybody."

"I know, it's just…sometimes Stiles can go and get a little carried away," Scott trailed off.

But Theo smiled. "Well, better carried away than not caring at all, right?"

Scott stared off for a bit before he blinked and shook his head. "Right. Well, let's get started. Biology is our first class so we don't have a lot of time left."

"Yeah, right," Theo said with a nod.

Scott looked down to skim one of his book's pages so he didn't see Theo's face harden a bit, a ghost of a smirk appearing, before he looked down at his notes. The two of them went to work exchanging notes and then lightly quizzing each other until it was time for them to get to class.

* * *

Kira was at her locker, smiling widely as she moved to get her books ready for her morning classes. Right before she finished, Lydia had calmly walked up to her.

"Hey Kira, you ready for the Biology test?" she asked her.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I think so. I hope so. I'm good."

Lydia narrowed her eyes at her. "What's going on? You seem pretty happy this morning."

"Well, it's a good morning. Clear skies, bright sun, nice gentle breeze," she said as she kept her gaze at her locker.

Now Lydia thought Kira was being a little too perky, even for her. "Kira," she said to her, making her look straight at her. When she caught Kira's eyes, her own eyes widened in realization. "Oh my god. You and Scott finally did it, didn't you?"

"Huh, did what?" she asked, trying not to sound as nervous as she suddenly felt.

"You did," she said, nearly laughing. "Wow, finally. How was it?"

Kira turned away a bit. "Good, I think."

"You think?"

"I've never…done it before," she trailed off.

Lydia understood. Kira had been a virgin. Scott was her first. "Don't worry, it gets better."

Kira froze. "Wait, so I was bad?"

"No," Lydia quickly said to her. "Why, do you think you were?" she asked delicately.

"Uh, I don't think so. Scott seemed happy…after."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "He's a guy. As long as they go off, they're always happy after."

Kira then closed her locker and the two of them headed off for the Biology classroom. Just after they took off down the hallway, Liam and Mason walked through the front doors together as they moved through the sea of people in the hallways.

As soon as Mason found Liam on the bus, he quickly started firing off a whole bunch of questions. Liam tried to answer them calmly, and quietly, all the way until they finally arrived in school. Mason seemed to having trouble really taking it all in.

"Okay, so you've been a werewolf since you got transferred here?" he asked.

"Yeah," Liam nodded.

"Because Scott bit you?"

"Yeah."

"Because he is a werewolf too?"

"Yeah."

"And so is his friend Stiles?"

"Yeah."

"And his girlfriend is a werecoyote?"

"Yeah."

"And Lydia is a banshee?"

"Yeah."

"And…what is Kira?"

"A kitsune."

"I don't even know what that is."

"Yeah, I don't think I really do either."

Mason finally stopped walking and caused Liam to stop to look back at him. Mason was staring at him, his eyes blinking fast, as if he could barely hold it all in without going berserk. "Wow," he gasped out. "This is sick."

"Yeah, it's been pretty crazy," he mumbled as he moved to rub at his eyes.

"Crazier than a seven foot giant trying to rip me to shreds in the basement before the Sheriff came and blew him up?" Mason stopped as he saw Liam move to cover up a hard yawn. "Hey Liam, are you okay?"

He shook it away. "Yeah," he said with a trace of the yawn coming out in his tone. "I just had a bit of trouble sleeping last night." Bits of the nightmare he had flashed mildly back into his mind. "But don't worry, I'll be okay."

They made their way into their history class and Liam froze as he spotted Hayden already sitting down. Again, there were only two empty seats, including the one right beside her. Suddenly, any lingering drowsiness seemed to vanish and he was hyped and alert.

Mason noticed it too. "An angry wolf you can handle, but not Hayden?" he teased before going off to take his seat.

"I'll take a Berserker any day over Hayden," Liam sighed to himself as he walked over to his seat.

He checked to make sure that the seat seemed fine and not covered with gum again. He turned to look over at her and found Hayden's face blank until he made eye contact with her. She then gave him a smug smile and he turned to look away, rolling his eyes. As Mr. Yukimura started the class, he then thought about what Mason just said. He had almost forgotten all about the incident with the wolf last night. He knew that Scott and Stiles had a free period after this one, he would go find and talk to them about it showing up. Something didn't feel right to him about it.

* * *

Melissa McCall was taking a small break when one of her fellow nurses flagged her down.

"Melissa, I need to talk to you."

"Sure Nancy, what is it?"

"Uh, there's a patient here who says that he's here for getting his cast replaced because he bumped his broken hand against something. He claims that he broke his hand over a week ago, but the abrasions seem fresh. I think he might be trying to cover up an assault."

She handed Melissa the patient's file and her eyes widened at the sight of the name. Jonathan Raeken. "Nancy, why don't you let me handle this one. I got it."

"You sure?"

She nodded. "It's okay. I know them." Melissa went into the room and found Mr. Raeken sitting in a patient's bed with his wife right beside him. There was gauze around his right hand with spots of dried blood here and there. "Jonathan Raeken?" she asked as she stepped in.

"What happened to the nurse?" Mrs. Raeken asked.

"I'm taking over. It's nice to finally meet you."

"Meet us?" she asked, a little tensed up.

"Oh, I'm Melissa McCall."

"McCall?" Mr. Raeken squeaked out. "Wait, we know that name."

"Yes honey, don't you remember, the new friend Theo told us about? Scott? This is his mother," she asked, pointedly.

His face immediately lightened up and he smiled. "Oh that's right. It's nice to meet you Melissa."

"Nice to meet you both." She then moved to peel back the gauze and her eyes narrowed as she did. "You want to tell me how this happened?"

"Oh, I slipped and bumped my hand into the corner of the counter. It reopened my cuts. I didn't even notice until Gina gave a start when she saw the gauze turning red."

"I did tell him that he should get a full cast for his hand but he was too proud and embarrassed. Injured on the first day of us moving in. How would he ever live that down to our neighbors?" Mrs. Raeken said fondly.

Melissa let out a polite laugh. "How did your injure your hand?'

"Oh, I was trying to furnish our living room and the leg of our couch went and slipped away and my hand got caught."

Melissa finished removing the gauze and came upon the cuts in his hand. She narrowed her eyes as she saw the damage. She could see why Nancy was concerned. The scarring seemed fresh and it didn't look accidental. It looked like something or someone smashed his hand. Raeken's whole body tightened as he flexed his fingers out at her touch. "Does it still hurt?" she asked in concern.

Raeken shrugged. "Just a bit," he said, trying to sound dismissive.

"His hand is going to be okay, isn't it?" asked his wife.

Melissa moved to start cleaning his hand. "I think it should be fine. He just has to be a lot more careful not to damage it more. We'll have your hand put in a strong cast and I'll prescribe you something for the pain."

He sighed in relief. "Thank you."

"So…how are you two settling back into Beacon Hills?"

Mrs. Raeken quickly jumped into what she was made to rehearse. "Oh, it's nice to be back though it's not quite what we remember. It'll take some adjusting but I think it will feel like home again."

Melissa nodded. "I know what you mean. I was relatively new to Beacon Hills around that time so I'm sorry I couldn't get the chance to know both of you or Theo before you all moved away. And I'm sorry about Tara."

There was a small pause before Mr. Raeken cleared his throat.

"Yes, our daughter," he coughed up a bit. "It still hurts to think of her sometimes."

Melissa blinked a bit but lowered her head as she tried to finish disinfecting the cuts and bruises on his hand. "I can imagine. I don't have a daughter but if I had ever lost Scott, I don't think I would ever be the same," Melissa said sympathetically. "How about Theo? Is he doing okay being back here?"

The Raekens took a moment to share a small, nervous look. Melissa noticed but averted her eyes as quickly as they turned to look back at her.

"He's…adjusting," Mrs. Raeken stiffly said. "Having made some friends so soon seems to be helping. It's not easy to when you're the new kid, even if you are coming back to what used to be home."

"And I'm sure him being "special" always makes it a little harder," Melissa suggested pointedly.

* * *

Scott was standing off to the edge of the hallway with Lydia, Kira and Theo. They were just letting themselves relax now that they've just finished taking the Biology test.

"So, how do you think you did?" Kira asked him.

Scott let a small smile loose. "Uh, okay actually. Over half the questions didn't feel too hard. You?"

She nodded. "I think I did okay too. Lydia, how about you?" she said, turning to the girl in question. She just gave her a look and Kira shook her head. "Right, what was I thinking?" she said in a laughing tone. Lydia was a genius, of course she did okay.

"I just needed to do a little revising. How about you Theo?"

"I think I might've done pretty good," he said a shrug and a smile. His gaze then went over to Scott. "Some last minute revising helped."

He smiled at him. "Well, I've got a free period so I could use a bit more help."

"Sorry, I've got to head over to Econ, so I guess I'll catch you guys later?" He then took off down the hall.

"Yeah, I have to get moving too. I have history next and since the teacher is my dad, I'll be missed. You heading out again?" she asked Lydia.

Since AP Biology was her one and only class, she was actually done for the day. But Lydia shook her head. "No, I'm going to stick around. I want to check up on Tracy."

"Cool, we can see each other at lunch."

"I'll be there," she told her.

Kira then took off and Lydia took off for towards the library. Scott decided he might go and do some reading off in the quad when he saw someone heading for him quickly at the corner of his eye.

"Stiles?" he said as his friend skidded to a stop next to him.

"Good, I thought I would have to scale half the school before I found you," he gasped out. But Stiles suddenly stopped and seemed taken aback for a second. "Something happened."

Scott tensed up. "What? Is something wrong?"

But Stiles shook his head. "No, with you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Something's changed. You look…brighter."

Scott was lost. "What? What are you-"

But he stopped as he saw Stiles looking him left to right and then saw him sniffing the air. His eyes sharpened as he seemed to catch something.

"You and Kira. You two finally did it, huh?"

Scott realized that Kira's lingering scent might still be on him from their time together the previous night. "That's creepy Stiles."

"But I am right, am I?" Stiles said, raising his eyebrows appraisingly at him.

Scott turned away but he couldn't stop a big grin from stretching onto his face. "Yeah, last night."

"Oh, well congrats dude." Stiles knew it must not be easy for Scott. After all, he's only ever been with one person before now.

"Thanks," Scott said before he shook his smile away. "But, can you not keep a look out on my scent unless it's an emergency." It was times like this where he was starting to worry more and more about Stiles' state of mind.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. I'm sure you can't help but catch it when Malia and I, you know."

"Yeah, I try to block it out whenever I can," he said tensing up as he tried not to have any mental pictures. "So…why were you looking for me?"

Stiles blinked as he remembered why he originally came for him. "Oh, it's Liam. He sent me a message. He wants to meet with us in the parking lot, by the buses. He said it's important."

"Yeah, okay."

They then started to head off in that direction. About halfway there, Stiles broke the silence.

"Hey, your biology test, scale of one to ten, how do you think you did?"

Scott smiled. "I'd say about an eight."

"That's great. I guess you were worrying over nothing."

"How'd you know I was worrying?"

"C'mon, do you think I don't monitor your chemo signals as much as you do mine?" He gave Scott a side glance.

"I did have a little help."

"Yeah?"

He nodded as his face fell a bit. "From Theo. He helped me get some studying in before the test this morning."

Stiles' face blanked a bit. "Oh," he simply said as he just kept walking off.

Scott half expected Stiles to say something but he guessed that he might be starting to give the guy a break. After last night, maybe he was seeing that he had been overreacting and was too quick to judge Theo.

The two of them made it outside where Liam had been waiting. He quickly told them both of how he and Mason had run into a wolf in the parking lot last night after Stiles had dropped him off. They quickly asked if he was okay, looking over him in concern, and he told them that he was fine.

Stiles was crutched down a bit over the spot where Liam told him it had been. "It's faint. It didn't stick around. Probably long gone by now."

Scott caught Liam's eye. "And it just showed up?"

"Yeah, just came out of nowhere. I didn't even notice until Mason warned me."

"So much for California not having wolves anymore," Scott mumbled Stiles' way.

Liam's eyebrows rose. "Wait, it doesn't?"

"No, which is funny considering its steady population of werewolves," Stiles threw in as he ran his hands across the pavement, eyes narrowed in thought.

"Then how did it get here?" Liam asked them.

"I don't know." Scott then sighed. "What about Mason? How's he doing?"

"He's okay. Besides, he was more caught up in fact that I had to shift in order to send the wolf away."

Scott and Stiles froze up and looked at him.

"So, you really told him," Stiles mumbled. Liam had said he was going to tell him last night but he still felt a little shocked that he actually went through with it.

"Well, how's he handling it?" Scott asked him delicately.

Liam surprised him by cracking a wide smile. "Mason's great. He's actually great, with everything. All of it."

"Yeah?" Stiles asked, still crutched down next to the floor. "He didn't freak out or try to stab you with something silver?" he joked, remembering Liam's scared rant.

The young beta let a small laugh loose. "No, at least not yet," he joked back.

Stiles nodded. "Well, I'd say that's a good sign."

"That's great Liam," Scott said, placing his hand on Liam's shoulder. "I'm happy for you. Just ease him into it. Don't try to overwhelm him with everything at once."

"Overwhelm? If anything, I'm having trouble keeping up with how much Mason wants to know."

Scott could believe that. He didn't know Mason that well but from what he could see, he seemed to be excitable and curious, almost as much as Stiles. Speaking of which, he looked over to see Stiles was moving around the floor, letting his hand lightly caress across the pavement, his eyes full of focus. Scott took a moment to wonder if he should be worrying about Stiles for a whole different set of reasons. "Stiles, what are you doing?"

Stiles stopped right there. He suddenly realized that he never really did get around to explain to Scott some of the things he'd been up to in the last six months with Satomi. He hadn't told anyone actually. But Liam knew what Stiles was up to.

"You can't pick up anything?" asked Liam. "Mason and I were scared, so there should be an event scar for you to tap."

Stiles got up and looked straight at Liam. "Wait, how do you know event scars?"

He shrugged uncomfortably. "I kind of overheard you and Satomi talking about them a few times when we were over at her place."

"Hold on, what are you guys talking about?" Scott asked as he looked between them. "What are you trying to do? What's an event scar?"

Stiles cleared his throat. "Scott, do you remember those times where after I touched something I went and saw things that I shouldn't have been able to?"

Scott thought back. "You mean like with the door at the Hale House and with the twins?" After he had done that, Stiles had seen the Alpha Pack leaving their mark and the twins killing their pack.

He nodded. "Yeah, well I told Satomi about them and she said that it's a rare ability that a couple of werewolves have. When something happens that made or left strong emotions behind, the event leaves an impression, a scar. I can then tap into them and see what happened to leave it. I was checking to see if what happened to Liam and Mason left one."

Scott's eyes widened. "Are you serious? So wait, you can just see what happened anywhere or with anyone just by touching them?" That sounded like it would be a pretty handy thing to have around.

Stiles shook his head. "No, there has to be emotions behind them. Powerful ones. Those times with the door and the twins, I saw them because they were full of hate, rage and bloodlust as those things happened. I can see what happened to make and leave those emotions behind. It's a lot like how we can read into chemo signals that are left behind, but stronger."

"And you're trying to learn from Satomi? She can do that too?"

"Oh, no, she can't but she did know a werewolf that was able to do it. So, she's been trying to help me get a handle on it these last few months but, it hasn't been easy."

"Really?" Scott was surprised. Before, when it came to werewolf stuff, Stiles had gotten things down pretty quickly.

Stiles shrugged. "Yeah, the hard part is trying to find enough to practice on. Satomi suggested places where many adrenaline high things happen. So, two months ago I decided to try looking in the Sheriff's Station. You know, because a lot of fear, hate and anger is felt around there constantly. I caught some flashes of things here and there that were left by some of the deputies, visitors and people who get arrested, especially around the holding cells. Even saw memories of…that night, back in sophomore year," he trailed off.

Scott's face softened. He knew which night Stiles was talking about. Matt's attack at the station with the Kanima. That was definitely a night that had a lot of fear, anger and anxiety coupled into it from them, their parents and Matt. Enough to leave scars for him to tap into.

Liam then jumped in. "But Mason and I were scared when that wolf appeared. Why can't you see it?"

Stiles had almost forgotten Liam was there. "Well, maybe you two didn't feel enough fear to make a scar."

Liam didn't know if he should be feeling relieved or insulted by the fact that they basically weren't scared enough last night to make an impression.

"So, what are we going to do about the wolf?" Liam then asked.

"Well, I could talk to Deaton about it when I get to work. See what he thinks," Scott answered. "It's probably nothing."

Stiles sighed deeply. "When is it ever nothing, Scott?" he asked him rhetorically.

* * *

Christopher Argent was sitting on an examination bed in a doctor's office, waiting for his test results. He had gotten an X-ray and given a sample of his blood and damaged tissue and now was waiting for the official news. He was still having a bit of trouble grasping the fact that he even could go to a doctor now. Until recently, he was a wanted man in the FBI's database due to him being framed for murder by the Nogitsune when it possessed Stiles last year. But he was granted immunity thanks to Scott's father, Agent Raphael McCall when he helped to bring in the Calaveras six months ago, as well as provide evidence against a handful of other rogue hunters since, like his old friend Richard Baxter who had been caught during the Deadpool incident.

He ran his left middle and forefingers across the deep claw marks that were scarred across the top part of his right arm. He clenched his teeth if he pressed too hard on them. The pain in his arm had started up a few days before Allison had been killed. Mild at first, only when he overexerted his arm for too long but it had been slowly growing worse. Now, if there was more than simple pressure, he would feel some pain. At his wince, the door opened and the doctor finally came back into the room in time to see it.

"Mr. Argent," he said in concern as he closed the door behind him. "You okay?"

"Yes doctor," Chris politely said back, as he pulled his sleeve down. "Just a mild itch. So how is it looking?"

The man sighed as he brought up the clipboard with the notes. "Well, I still have some more questions to ask you before I give you the final results."

"Okay," he nodded.

"Now, you said that you had been attacked by a wolf and it managed to maul at your arm?"

Chris nodded. "That's right," he said unflinchingly. A memory of Stiles digging his claws into his arm and then throwing him off replayed in his mind. "Over a year ago."

"By any chance, do you know if this wolf might have been rabid?" asked the doctor.

"I couldn't say," Chris answered evenly. "Why?"

"Well, there are trace amounts of organic toxins in your arm's muscle tissue. One of them seems to be…aconite."

' _Wolfsbane_ ,' Chris thought to himself.

The doctor continued. "It's as if the wolf's claws had been laced in it. Not too uncommon with animals suffering diseases or poison to have it in their claws or teeth."

Chris guessed it was from when Gerard had poisoned Stiles with that wolfsbane cocktail of his to diminish a werewolf's strength and powers. Stiles' body must've burned and pushed out the toxin from his pores and claws in an effort to heal himself that night, which would explain how he ended up with it after Stiles attacked him.

"I see," he managed to say.

"That explains why the pain is escalating. The toxin embedded in your muscle tissue has been slowly spreading and eroding the surrounding tissue and has started killing some of the damaged tissue."

"It can't heal?"

"Well, it could, if it was given time to. The strain and stress you've been putting on your arm hasn't been helping. In fact, it's been helping to accelerate the extent of the damage far more than a year should've progressed. May I ask what exactly is it you do?"

"Security," he simply answered like he had been trained to since he was a teen.

"Well, I think you should seriously consider a career change. One that isn't so physical."

Chris' jaw tightened. He didn't believe that would be an option. "Is it possible for me to have some surgery done on my arm to remove the toxin and repair my arm?"

The doctor sighed. "I'm afraid I can't recommend that. It's not just your arm though. Your bloodwork came back and I need you to be honest with me Mr. Argent. What have you been taking?"

"Taking?"

"Yes, what drugs have you been taking Mr. Argent? There is a substantial trace amount of narcotics in your blood. Some oxycontin mixed with a few other substances made for relieving pain. From the quantity found, I'd say you'd been regularly taking it for a few months now."

Chris averted his eyes. Six months ago, Peter Hale had found out his little secret when he tasted some of his blood. The injury of his arm had started to make it too painful to fight or even fire a gun without his focus becoming divided between his targets and himself and during his missions, he needed his focus undivided or it would prove fatal.

"It's nothing major," he simply said.

"I'm afraid it is Mr. Argent. Addiction is always a major thing."

"I'm not an addict," he stressfully spat out.

The doctor just stared at him. He had heard that before, many times. "Mr. Argent, I need you to understand what is really going on. Whatever it is you're taking, not only is it affecting your arm, I have reason to believe it's starting to seriously affect your overall health as well."

* * *

Malia was flipping through a textbook in her Economics class, with a red highlighter firmly between her lips. She took it out to highlight a complicated looking term when she felt someone sit in the seat beside her. She looked over to see that it was Theo, and he smiled at her.

"Hey," he said lightly to her as soon as her eyes met his.

Malia quickly looked back at her book. "You changed your seat," she mumbled.

"Yeah well, seeing as how you're the only member of the pack here it would make sense for us to be together, wouldn't it?" he finished with a smile creeping up on him.

Malia let her eyes follow that smile and couldn't help but feel that it was a bit predatory. She found her stomach twisting a bit at the thought as her insides seemed to heat up somewhat. She moved her gaze up to catch him in his eyes and they seemed to focus right back at hers. She raised her eyebrows up at him before she shrugged. "Fine. Do whatever you want, I don't care," she said airily before turning back to her book. She could feel his eyes still on her and she focused on keeping hers on the book and away from him.

As Malia went back to finish highlighting the passage she was working on, Theo continued to watch her. He could sense that Malia didn't seem to really be concentrating in reading as she was pretending to be. It seemed like she was trying very hard not to look at him. Animalistic pride welled up in him as he turned away to give her a small reprieve.

Theo turn his head around and gazed upon Tracy, who was sitting at the back of the room, by the door. She was staring straight ahead, with a somewhat tense stance. It looked like she was struggling to stay awake. It seemed as if the mental side effects of the transformation from the Doctors' treatment. Her mind was in a malleable state right now. And that was giving him an idea that wouldn't just help push his way into Scott and the others' confidence; but help push Stiles out of theirs.

* * *

Cora was in the cafeteria, nibbling on her lunch as she was reading a novel for her American Literature class. As she finished a chapter, she dropped it to let her eyes go over the room where there were at least a hundred other kids there, talking with each other or each doing their own private thing as they enjoyed their lunch period. Cora still wasn't used to having an education in this kind of setting. After the fire, when she escaped to South America, she would study independently or have private tutoring from pack emissaries. After Derek had left her with Maggie, she learned under her but she kept insisting that she go and enroll herself in the local high school. When her pregnancy began to progress, she dropped it but after Jason's birth, she brought the issue up again. It might not have worked any better than before but then Derek moved and took her side in the argument and she found herself caving in.

She would admit, high school wasn't as bad as she pictured it. Classes weren't unpleasant and the course work was interesting enough. It was her classmates though. She didn't know any of the other kids here and they didn't know her. On some points, that was a good thing. No one would hear her name and automatically connect her to the fire and all the other stuff that happened that was connected to the Hale name. She wouldn't have to bare putting up judgmental looks and blocking out conversations about her behind her back.

Her train of thought was interrupted when someone suddenly just sat down in front of her.

"Jane Eyre," he read off the front cover. "Is that your pick for our presentation assignment?"

Cora raised her eyebrows at him. "Really? That's what you're going to start off with?"

The guy shrugged. "Seemed like it was a good way to start, at least in my head it was," he tried to jest.

Even though he was sure to see it, Cora didn't hesitate to make the need to roll her eyes obvious. "I've seen you around. You're in my lit class, aren't you?"

She gave him a once over and thought that he did seem cute, in an awkward sort of way. He had black eyes and the hair to match that was complimented by his fair complexion. His hair was slightly messy, like the way it is when you run your hand through it a couple of times. He was somewhat tall and it looked like he was fairly fit.

He smiled at her. "That's right. You're the new girl. It's Cora, right?"

She nodded. "That's right. And I'm sorry, but I'm drawing a blank on your name."

He smiled at her. "It's okay. I'm Ruben. You just moved here, right?"

"A couple of months ago," she answered.

"I know. I kind of seen you around the community center pool a few times over the summer. You love the water?"

It went like this for a few minutes. Ruben seemed to keep trying to trade small talk with Cora, about things that didn't matter or have any interest to her. She was finding that this was the flipside to going to school in a place like this. Everyone else would assume that she was like other high school girls. That she was interested in pop idols, social orders and other stupid teenage stuff. A part of her wished she was, as it would probably make this whole thing so much easier. And she couldn't help but wonder that if she had stayed in Beacon Hills with the Stiles, Scott and the others, would she have learned to?

After Ruben brought up a party that was going on that weekend, he asked if she would be there. Cora told him that she would think about it so this could be over. Ruben seemed hopeful as he heard her answer, and she could feel the interest that he seemed to have in her as he went off to sit with a few other guys. She then sighed as she went back to her book.

* * *

Jordan was sitting in his van, parked off in a street corner as he patrolled an area of downtown Beacon Hills. There had been some sounds of shooting around this area earlier that week. It turned out that it had been Donovan Donati who did that as he was breaking into a pharmacy but luckily Deputy Clark had managed to catch him without anyone getting hurt. The Sheriff wanted him there to make sure there wasn't any more trouble lingering around there. Jordan didn't mind having patrol duty; at least it wasn't directing traffic or organizing the files down at the station. His eyes fell upon the nearby bar and he saw someone heading for it. Someone that might not belong in a place like that.

Virgil was pissed. Before he left work at the garage today, his boss told him that he would need to cover some of the late shift all next week. Naturally, he pointed out to his boss that he said he wouldn't ask him to do that anymore but the man reminded him that he only said that he wouldn't ask him to do that for no pay. For a wild second, Virgil actually thought that meant that he would be paid overtime for the extra hours. And he was, but he also told him that, unfortunately, his normal pay had to be cut a bit. This meant that the extra hours barely did anything, and he would no doubt have to work a few extra hours regularly to make up the difference. His boss apologized and said it couldn't be helped but Virgil talked to one of the other mechanics at the garage and learned that the others weren't having their hours cut at all. Virgil thought it was official, his boss was out to get him. When he got home, he felt he needed something good and hard to dull this day away so he decided to walk down to the local bar.

He was just about to reach for the door but he was flagged down by a deputy.

"Hey there," he said stopping him. "You mind if I talk to you for a second?"

Virgil sighed and he headed over for the deputy. "Is there a problem officer?" he sighed out.

"I hope not. But, you seem a little young to be going to a bar. Mind if I see your ID?"

Virgil seemed taken aback. "Really?"

"Yeah. Why, is there a problem?" Jordan asked, readying himself a bit.

But Virgil just blinked at him. "Uh, no." He then reached into his pocket and handed it to him. After he did, his eyes fell on the name PARRISH written on the name plate pinned to the uniform. "Parrish? You're new to town, aren't you?"

Jordan nodded. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I transferred here almost a year ago."

"That's explains it. Most of the deputies around here pretty much know me."

"Well, Virgil," Jordan said reading the name off his license before giving it back to him. "If you regularly try to sneak into bars because you're a minor then I don't doubt that."

"I'm old enough," Virgil said indignantly. "I turn 21 in six months."

"Which makes you 20 so you're still underage," Jordan pointed out.

Virgil ran his hand furiously over his face. "Look, can't I just a pass? All I want one crappy drink after a really crappy day."

"Well, it's been my experience that people who want to dull and forget what they're dealing with usually need more than  _one_  drink. And yeah, you'll feel fine  _now,_  but it usually doesn't do anyone any good in the long run."

"Honestly, I'm good with feeling fine now."

Jordan let a small chuckle loose but still shook his head. "Sorry there Virge but-"

"Virgil," he quickly cut in. "Sorry, but I don't like anyone calling me Virge," he quickly explained when the deputy rose his eyebrows at his quick outburst.

"Right, well Virgil, you're just going to have to wait. If you really want to go to into that bar, then I can't stop you. Six months from now. But, right now I still can but I'm hoping that I won't have to."

Virgil sighed as he looked the deputy up and down. His tone was gentle and kind but he could feel that the guy was serious with his last comment. He didn't want more problems to add on so he took a step back. "Alright," he sighed. "You win."

Virgil started to walk away, heading back for his apartment.

"Hey Virgil," Jordan called out to him, making him stop to turn back to him. "In the meantime, try coffee. A black Medium Americano always seems to brighten up my day."

Virgil stared at him for a moment before a hint of a smile crept on him a bit. "Maybe I'll give it a shot," he said to him before walking off.

* * *

"And Liam and his friend are okay?" asked Deaton.

Scott nodded. "Yeah, Liam managed to scare it off so no one was hurt."

"That's good."

Scott was off to the side of the animal clinic's examination room as his boss Deaton was listening as he was preparing medicinal shot for one of the animals.

"I thought California wasn't supposed to have wolves." When this all started, it was one of the first things that Scott had learned.

"It used to, but urbanization and seismic activity pushed them to migrate to the east. The farthest western point in the country you normally find wolves like this are Yellowstone and sometimes Idaho. It's a little unheard for one to be spotted this far west, though it might possible that it might have wandered here or pushed out of its home."

"So, there might not be a connection to that werewolf that attacked me with the talons?"

"As to that, I can't say for sure. That being said, I will say this is strange. These kind of wolves are skittish and generally try avoid people by staying in the forest. Unless it was rabid, I can't think of any other kind of reason for this to have even happened."

"Maybe it was sick?"

But Deaton nodded. "If it was then there would've been a trace of it for you or Stiles to easily pick up on."

Scott couldn't help but think that Deaton was thinking that the attack on Liam and Mason might have been deliberate. "So, what do we do?"

"For now, I think the only thing you can do is just be careful and for you and your friends to look out for one another." Scott nodded though Deaton could see that something was still on his mind. "Scott, is there something else?"

"Uh, well, I was wondering if you knew anything about event scars?"

"You mean, like what Stiles sometimes gets?"

Scott's eyes widened. "How did-"

He smiled at the young Alpha. "I've known about them for a while, and I know that Satomi has been trying to help him get control of them. She and I had started keeping tabs on one another after what happened six months ago," he explained.

"Stiles tried telling me what it is but, I don't think I quite get it."

"Basically, it's reading and putting together events that took shape in a certain place by what emotions had been made and left behind. I think Stiles' natural observant and puzzle solving mind made him more open and receptive to this ability. Since detectives often need a mind like that to put together and work a crime scene. Tapping into event scars is one of the more rare, as well as difficult, abilities for a werewolf to tap into. I've heard stories but personally only ever come across one werewolf that had successfully mastered it."

Scott narrowed his eyes. Stiles said that Satomi had told him the same thing. He wondered if Deaton and Satomi were talking about the same one. "Who was it?"

The smile on Deaton's face fell a bit and his expression became blank though there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. "A man by the name of Jason Conley. He was Talia's lover."

Now Scott's eyes nearly popped out. "You mean, Derek's father?"

Deaton nodded. "Yes. Jason had been quite a strong and gifted Alpha. Like Talia, he also had the power to shapeshift into a wolf. An ability that both Laura and Derek seemed to have inherited from them. Tapping into event scars was just one of Jason's own separate talents. He had tried to teach Talia how to do it when they were together. She showed promise but thought it was too frustrating for her so she abandoned it. Satomi and even Deucalion once asked Jason for help teaching them but they didn't seem to have the skill and mindset for it. Satomi does remember some of the tips and lessons Jason gave her so she's trying to help Stiles as it looks like he might have a real chance of harnessing and bringing it under control."

Scott had no idea. Not once, in the two years he'd known him, had Derek ever once mentioned his father. But he noticed something. "Wait, you said he was Talia's lover. Don't you mean her husband?"

"No. Though they did have Laura, Derek and Cora together, Talia and Jason weren't married."

"Why not?"

"They were in a complicated position. Jason had come to Beacon Hills a little less than 30 years ago tracking an Omega that killed one of his betas. That's how he and Talia met and they ended up falling in love. But he was an Alpha of a pack over in Virginia and she was getting ready to take over as the Alpha in charge of Beacon Hills. They had responsibilities to their packs so the two of them knew they couldn't stay together. Though, before he left, he ended up fathering Laura with Talia. He would make occasional visits to see Talia and their child over the years, two of which ended up with Derek and Cora coming along," he zoned out.

Scott was thrown. He had always just assumed that Derek's father was one of the people who had been killed in the Hale Fire. But, he wasn't even living here. In two minutes, he learned more about this man than he did in the last two years. He was curious to know more.

"What happened to him?"

Deaton didn't answer right away. His gaze fell a bit as the memory of Talia during that time, hit him. "When Derek was almost 12, Jason and most of his pack were killed."

"Was it hunters?" he quickly guessed.

But Deaton shook his head. "No, they had been killed by a rival group of shapeshifters. Since it happened at the other end of the country, Talia was never able to find out who had done it. She never really got over it."

Scott could hear the pain in Deaton's voice. He was starting to regret bringing the topic up. Still, he now understood what Stiles was talking about with Event Scars now. He just hoped that his friend's story ended up being better than the last one that could use this rare werewolf ability.

* * *

Tracy was strapped to a chair in the Doctors' lab though she wasn't struggling. Her face was loosely shifting back and forth with fangs and claws extending and retracting at her fingertips every other minute or so. She seemed to be getting used to the sensation of the transformation. Off to the side, Theo was standing there, his hands were holding Tracy's records.

"Wow Tracy," he said softly as he shuffled through them. "It looks like you've been suffering from insomnia for a while now. Since your mom left right before you started high school. Then when it all started, right? Depression, night terrors and even panic attacks. But, your dad went and quickly got you into therapy and the best prescribed anti depressant drugs he could, all to help you. What a caring guy. Sure sounds like he loves you." Theo then moved to hover over her. "Just as long as you keep what was happening to you private, right?"

Tracy's eyes widened a bit at that. Theo kept going.

"I mean, your dad was a rising defense lawyer so that made him a strong public figure in town. He was under a lot of pressure especially going up against Mr. Whittemore quite a few times before he left town. Now he's number one in Beacon Hills and he can't risk anything ruining his reputation, especially you. What would people think of him if he has a daughter with mental problems? That's why he always asked you not to tell anybody at school what you were going through outside your guidance counselors and why you couldn't have any body come over and risk seeing all the medication you had. He even weather proofed your room, right? To make sure your screams didn't get heard by the neighbors. Can't risk anyone finding out about his freak of a daughter."

Tracy had her claws out again and she clenched her fingers to dig into the arm of the chair, scratching right into it. Theo then dropped his tone and started to speak a bit more…seductively.

"Maybe that's why your mom left? Maybe she just wasn't worthy enough to be a high class lawyer's wife like he felt he needed and that's why she had to leave your family. Leave you. Because of him."

A loud spark off to the side made Theo look over to two more chairs at the side where two others were strapped to them like Tracy. They had needles and tubes full of DNA and mercury running into them but were both unconscious. The Surgeon was observing the two of them before he nodded over to the Pathologist and the Geneticist. The two of them slowly stomped over and started to remove the instruments from them before picking their slagging bodies up and started to carry them away. No doubt to bury them for the second phase of the transformation process.

The Surgeon followed their movements before turning to look back at Theo. "Her condition shows promise."

A smirk crept onto Theo's face. "I'm counting on that. I just need to borrow her for a bit."

The Surgeon's breathing seemed to quicken a bit. "Do not interfere with her condition," he warned him with his deep, distorted voice.

"I'm not. I'm just treating her mental condition a bit," he defended. The girl had emotional scars. Scars that he could manipulate and use to his advantage. "She could really help with my plan for Scott and his pack." And maybe he could find ways to use their two newest creations too.

"There is only one plan." The Surgeon then moved to walk off after his two colleagues.

Theo glared after him for a moment before turning back to Tracy.

"Now, where was I?"

* * *

Stiles was driving Malia home after school in his jeep. Her nose crinkled as a funny smell started to seep into the car.

"Stiles, do you smell something?"

He sighed deeply. "Yeah, it's coming from the engine." The heat was starting to burn through the layers of tape he had in there.

"Well, it smells really bad."

"Yeah…I know."

"Maybe you should take it to someone. Get it looked at," she suggested.

"No, that's okay. I…I can handle it," he mumbled. Roscoe was his baby and he was to be the one to take care of it. And, he would. Besides, he remembered what happened the last time he tried to take it to someone. Stiles wanted to change the subject. "So, I thought we were going to my house to study. Why did you want to come back home first?"

"My dad sent a text to me. Said he had a surprise for me and that I should come home right after school."

"Any idea what it is?"

She shook her head. "No clue."

Soon enough, Stiles was pulling up next to the Tate's house. As soon as he stopped, Stiles' nose crinkled as he detected a frightening scent.

"Blood," he mumbled. Malia smelled it too and she quickly threw herself out of the car. Stiles was a second behind her. "Malia, wait," he called as she rushed to the front door.

But Malia didn't slow down until after she threw herself passed her unlocked front door. She froze when she found a familiar scent drifting though the house, mixed with the blood. Together, it was a scent that she hadn't come across in almost a year. Stiles had called for her again as he made it to the door but she surprised him when she turned around to look at him, with a smile on her face.

"Dad?" she called out.

"In the kitchen," they heard Henry Tate call back.

They headed for the kitchen and found him hard at work cooking. Stiles saw splashes of blood in the sink. From the smell, he guessed that there was a lot, but as he was calmly sifting through it, he realized that it wasn't from Mr. Tate, or anybody. It wasn't human, it was animal blood. After all this time, he knew what human blood smelled like. He followed where the scent was strongest and saw some bloody entrails peeking out from a semi-open garbage bag.

"Wait," Stiles said, narrowing his eyes. "Is that-"

Henry nodded. "Yep," he said before smiling over at his daughter. "It's deer meat."

Malia looked over and saw some fillets of meat on a cutting board. At the sight of it, her stomach actually growled. "How did you get it?" she asked.

"It wandered onto our property late this morning. I was going to chase it off but…I remembered how you said deer was your favorite so I decided to give it a shot, so I brought down."

Malia immediately went over and gave her dad a hard hug. He let out a small laugh before he moved to return it. Stiles watched them with a calm smile coming over him. He knew that Malia was getting better and more adjusted as time went on, but she couldn't discard all the years she spent living as a coyote in the woods. Her dad seemed to know that and was trying to show support for her feelings.

Malia looked at the pot to see some slabs of it already seasoned and simmering. "You know, I never had it cooked before," she mused.

Stiles shrugged. "Yeah, I'm not really surprised. Don't think too many coyotes carry around ovens when they hunt."

Malia let a small chuckle as she turned back to look at his joking face. As she looked into his eyes, Malia felt herself feeling warm inside. Her insides were turning, kind of like back at school with Theo, only they were tugging at her chest rather than her stomach. The feeling made her smile at him.

Henry moved over to the fridge and opened the freezer door to show that there were some bags filled with some more deer meat. "Well, I have some more saved for you if you ever want to have it the way you like. But today, let's try it this way, okay?"

"Okay?" Malia nodded.

"Stiles, would you like to stay for dinner?" the man asked his daughter's boyfriend.

"Uh, yeah I'd love to. Let me just call my dad and let him know."

* * *

"You're sure that Oscar doesn't know?" asked Derek.

"Know? I'd say not. Suspect? I'd say he does," said Maggie as she rocked baby Jason in her arms.

Derek started pacing. "But if he is really watching us, he might know you're here, right now."

"Maybe, but what can he do? He knows that I'm close with you and Cora."

"Yeah, which means he can already guess you're trying to warn us about him. I know how Oscar deals with people that get in his way and give him trouble. Maybe you should stay away for a bit. It might be safer that way."

But Maggie shook her head. "If I'm suddenly avoiding you two, especially after we've been spending more time together after Jason, don't you think that would only help tip Oscar off that he's on the right track? Besides, I'm still the apprentice to the emissary of his pack. He won't risk doing anything that would cost him the access he thinks I can give him if I seem loyal."

"Which he might know you fully aren't if that new bitten blabs to him. I can't believe you told him about Jason's father."

"Relax, Charlie won't say anything. He's a good, decent guy and he won't do anything to endanger an innocent child. I'm pretty sure he's someone I can trust."

"Oh, that's comforting," he snorted.

"Derek," she said pointedly.

He stopped pacing and looked straight at her. Then he just sighed and threw himself to sit next to her. "I just don't want anything to happen to you," he said softly. They stared lightly at each other for a few moments before his eyes flew off for the door. "Cora's coming."

Cora took out her keys and opened the door to the apartment to find a pleasant surprise. She found Maggie sitting on the sofa, with Jason in her arms laughing, as Derek sat next to her. From the lingering emotions, it seemed like they had just been in the middle of an intense conversation but it stopped as they both looked up to see Cora making it home.

"Maggie, I wasn't expecting to see you here," she said as she stepped in and closed the door behind her.

"Oh, I decided to come for a visit. And I always like seeing this cutie here," she said gesturing her baby who let out a small giggle at the squeeze.

Cora moved to set her bag to the side and went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

"How was school?" her brother asked.

"Same old, same old," she said before taking a sip of her water.

"Did anything happen today?" asked Maggie.

Memories of Ruben and his invite rang in her head. She turned around to see Derek looking right at her and she shrugged her shoulders. "Not really."

Maggie rose her eye at Cora before getting up from the couch. "Hey Derek, I'm going to put Jason to bed now. Cora, why don't you come with me?" she asked as she started heading upstairs to the nursery.

"Sure," she mumbled as she followed after her.

When they made it to the room, Maggie moved to put Jason in his crib before flipping on his baby radio to play and fill the room with light jingle music, to give them privacy from a certain burly werewolf's super hearing.

"Alright," she said lightly. "What really happened in school today?"

"What? Why do you think something happened?"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Please, I saw the hesitation when you answered him and the attempt to casually brush it off. I used to do the same thing too. So, out with it."

Cora breathed heavily out of her nose but let an amused grin loose as the reason for bringing her here and playing the music came to light. "A boy talked to me today."

"A boy?"

She nodded. "From one of my classes. Gave me a lame attempt at flirting before he invited me to a party this weekend."

Maggie looked her up and down. "Really? You going to go?"

"I don't know. I mean, I have homework, and Jason." She looked down at him as he moved to start biting into the ear of one of his stuffed toys.

"I can come over and watch Jason and you could always take care of homework before and after the party. Sounds to me, you were hoping to use them as excuses."

"Excuses? For what?"

"For not being a teenager. Cora, the whole reason why Derek moved you here was so that you could settle down and start to live your life with some stability."

"I know," she sighed heavily. "But, I don't if that's what I want. This whole, going to high school and dating, party going thing."

"I can understand that. But, how could you know if that's not what you want, unless you give it a chance?" She then tilted her head a bit. "Unless that's not really it either?"

Cora rolled her eyes. "How do you emissaries always read us so well?"

Maggie smiled. "It's our gift. Is it the boy? The one who asked you oh so lamely?"

"Ruben…as he was talking, I couldn't help but think of-"

"Stiles?" Maggie guessed.

She sighed. "He's the one guy I've ever really connected with and I couldn't help but compare Ruben to him. I can't help but feel annoyed that anyone else I come across, I'm always going to compare them to him."

Maggie dropped her head. "I know what you mean, believe me," she said, her mind going to the guy down the stairs.

"Oh, I do," Cora said, this time reading her just as well.

* * *

Noah Stilinski was taking a moment to just sit at his desk, silent in thought. His son had called him a while ago to tell him that he was having dinner at the Tates' house with Malia and her father. He was happy for his son to have a day to just enjoy being with his girlfriend like he should be. In two days, he would be going out on his first date in years. He hadn't been on one since Claudia and he was feeling both excited and a bit anxious. Sure, he'd shown interest in some women over the years but he never really acted on any of it. He would always look down at his hand, toward his wedding band. His date had been married and had a child just like him too, but she didn't keep her wedding ring on.

He told Stiles when he called that he had a date lined up for that Friday night. Noah figured it was time to tell Stiles as he couldn't just keep holding it off and with the topic of dinner with his girlfriend and father, it seemed like a good opportunity. He had been putting it off, as he didn't know if Stiles could handle it. He knew he loved his mother just as much as he did and didn't want for him to feel hurt. Stiles, though, seemed happy. More than happy, he sounded excited. He thought it was good for him to start dating again and had quickly wanted to know who the lucky lady was. Noah would hold onto that for the time being. It was one thing for his son to accept he was dating again. Who he was going to date, that might make things awkward considering who her daughter was.

A knock pulled him out of his thoughts. It was Parrish.

"Hey Parrish," Noah said, straightening up.

"Hey Sheriff," Jordan said back. "You're still here?"

"Oh, I'm heading out in a bit. Run into any trouble out there?"

"No, not really. Most action I got was keeping an underage kid from going into the bar around there. He seemed surprised that I didn't know him off the bat. Said that all deputies in this station should know him."

Noah sighed. "What's his name?"

"I think it was, Virgil?"

"Virgil? Edelman?"

"Yeah, that's right. So, you do know him. He the local troublemaker or something?"

"No, that title proudly belongs to my son. Virgil…I actually think what happened with you today was probably the most trouble he's caused since the kid's been here. I think he lived in a low income area of San Diego before he and his father came to Beacon Hills a little over two years ago. The reason I remember is because there was a bit of an uproar with the parents of the community about him enrolling at Beacon High."

"Why?"

"Well apparently, Virgil had been recently released from juvenile hall after serving around four months. The story was that he had thrown bricks through the back window of a restaurant after it closed. It seemed one of them damaged a gas main and it set off a small explosion. An employee had still been in there and was killed in the blast. Virgil had been charged with arson and second degree manslaughter. He was a minor so he was sentenced to be in juvenile hall until he was 18 and then spend a year in jail."

Jordan thought back to the young man he met earlier today. While Virgil had seemed like he was troubled and had a bit of an attitude, he didn't seem like he was capable of that. Perhaps you didn't know with some people. But, something didn't seem to fit with the story.

"Wait, why would they let him go after four months with charges like that?" he asked the Sheriff.

"The charges were dropped for some reason. After that, his father packed them up and moved them here. Turns out, the man lived here when he was a kid and his mother still did, so they moved in with her. He registered for school but word had gotten out about his history and many parents didn't want their kids to go to school with a killer. I remember that Whittemore sent a petition saying that the only way for him to attend school here was if it was agreed that there would be an officer watching him during school hours. It was done but Virgil never did anything before, during or after school. That's how most of us know him, from having to watch him."

"Wow…wait, how have I never heard of this?"

"Well, it was two years ago, a year before you arrived. And the duty of watching him at school only lasted for little over his first semester when all that stuff with Peter Hale and the Argents started to happen. After that, people's focus went off Virgil and onto all of that. When that stuff started escalating, I pulled watching that kid off our itinerary. Thought it was a waste of time and eventually, he fell into the background. I even started to forget about him, until the accident."

"Accident?" asked Jordan.

"Yeah, a pile-up on the road. Caused when a few drivers witnessed a giant man shaped lizard running onto the street." He shared a look with Parrish as they knew that it was the Kanima. "His father and grandmother had been in it and were killed. I went to tell that kid the news myself. Last I heard, before he graduated, he found a job at one of the auto shops in town."

Jordan just stared. No wonder that kid wanted a drink.

* * *

A/N: I hope you like this original chapter. Slowly, things are starting to deviate and stuff from the main 'episodes' will be greatly different as a result. Right now, Malia is fighting between her genuine human feelings of love for Stiles, and emerging animalistic lust for Theo. And I wanted her father to get some more screen time because I realized that the first episode of Season 5 was the last time we ever saw him again with no explanations. I also hope you liked some further insight into the Hale family, especially seeing Derek, Cora and little Jason. And some insight into Virgil's past and how it fits in the background of the Teen Wolf story.


	8. Dreamcatchers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new attack happens that seems to have been the work of Tracy. Meetings with Scott's pack and Satomi's pack are done to strategize on the recent events.

A car pulled up in front of the station and, from the passenger seat, Jordan Parrish sighed as he caught sight of it before turning back to Lydia.

"Thanks for the lift," he said calmly to her. "Sorry I had to cut today so short but I completely forgot that a prisoner is getting transferred tonight."

"Don't worry, it's okay. I'm sure we probably would've had another day of nothing."

Like usual, after school, Lydia and Jordan met together at his place to try and work through all the lore and supernatural literature they could to try and unravel the mystery of what he was. And, like what had been usual for the last couple of months, they found nothing.

Jordan could see her distress but he quickly gave her a small smile. "It's alright Lydia. You know, they say that one more day of dead ends really means you're one day closer to finding the way you're looking for."

Lydia rose an eyebrow at him. "By they, do you mean the Chinese because that sounds like something you read off a fortune cookie."

He let out a chuckle. "Okay, you caught me. Still, it is good advice though." That made her drop her gaze and chuckle amusingly to herself too. Jordan let out a deep breath as he sobered himself. "It's okay. We'll know when we know. I just hope it won't be something bad."

"It won't be," she said sternly.

"How do you know?"

Lydia moved her right hand over to be on top of his. "Because you're a good man Jordan Parrish," she told him as if that settled the matter.

Jordan found his hand moving to take hold of hers and they moved to stare square in each other's eyes. Lydia felt a warmth coming from his hand and she wasn't sure if it was from whatever Jordan was or if she was imagining it. They didn't know how long they kept their shared gaze. It could've been a few seconds, or a few minutes, but it all ended when two hard beams of light shined on them. They let go of each other's hands and looked away to see it was from the headlights of a van.

"Oh," Jordan's eyes widened. "It's the transport van. I have to go."

Lydia waved as Jordan hurriedly got out of the car to head into the station. Her eyes followed after him as he went for the front door. She then let out a hard flustered breath and looked up to her mirror to see that her face had gotten a bit reddened.

Deputy Clark was standing in wait in front of the reception desk. She had her arms folded and narrowed her eyes as soon as she caught sight of Jordan coming into the station's front entrance.

"It's about time Parrish," she huffed. "We're about to transport the prisoner."

"I know, I'm sorry," he quickly apologized.

Clark narrowed her eyes at him. "You okay? You seem a bit flustered."

He cleared his throat as he tried to get his mind at what just happened a moment ago. "I'm fine."

"Well, then c'mon. Let's go."

The two deputies headed off for the cells, passing by the Sheriff's office where he was getting himself ready too for a dinner date. Clark already had the cuffs and transport chain jacket prepared Jordan moved to carry them. They met with Mr. Stewart and his escort.

"Let's get him ready," the lawyer told the deputies.

Donovan lifted his head up as his cell door was opened and he saw the small group.

"Stand up straight and keep your hands in front of you," Clark told Donovan.

He sighed but did what he was told. Jordan handed Clark the cuffs and they were thrown on him before he was fitted with the prisoner chain jacket over his chest. Clark then led Donovan out of the cell and Jordan moved to cover his other side as Stewart led them out of there.

In his office, Noah was putting on a necktie over a plaid dress shirt before moving to throw on a light brown dinner jacket. His son Stiles was helping him out and Scott was sitting off to the side, watching. As soon as he was fully dressed, he pulled out a mirror and began fussing on his hair. Scott and Stiles didn't need super senses to tell them that he was nervous.

"Gah," Noah coughed at as he ran his other hand on some out of place strands. "[I should've gotten a haircut](http://33.media.tumblr.com/df1fe26def337aec044cc9f8dc0960cd/tumblr_nr3mlgYWyG1t27ahco4_250.gif)."

"Well, [someone your age should be happy you still have hair to cut](http://31.media.tumblr.com/52d784dff6a03d67ddde09c5991e1566/tumblr_nr3mlgYWyG1t27ahco5_250.gif)," Stiles quipped.

Noah gave him a bit of a sour look but Stiles just smiled enthusiastically back at him.

"[I think you look great](http://33.media.tumblr.com/23ae78a3454dc23fb13cec5299f83767/tumblr_nr3mlgYWyG1t27ahco1_250.gif)," Scott chipped in.

"[Well, thank you son I should've had](http://33.media.tumblr.com/1687689d0c6aff6b0832781495a26743/tumblr_nr3mlgYWyG1t27ahco6_250.gif)," Noah breathed out at him.

Scott smiled and saw as Stiles and his dad suddenly switched expressions as they looked back at each other and Scott fought the urge to laugh. Stiles was annoyed but not as much as he let himself look. His father wasn't so nervous, though it only lasted for a moment as he then went back to fussing, this time over his tie.

"Wow, dad," he said quickly going to try and settle him down. "[Dad, it's only one date, okay? The town of Beacon Hills won't implode while you're out with one woman](http://33.media.tumblr.com/251edee0d8343d3b5b150e08cde89280/tumblr_nr3puiLxF01t27ahco1_250.gif)…or man," he playfully threw in.

"It's a woman, Stiles," he told him.

Stiles smiled. "Okay."

Noah smiled too. "A very beautiful woman."

Scott and Stiles shared a look. They've never got many chances to see that look on the Sheriff's face. They couldn't help but both wonder who was responsible for putting it on him.

"What beautiful woman, by the way?" Stiles asked for the both of them. "You still haven't told me who you're taking out."

"Because it's none of your business. Either of yours" he said switching his gaze between either of them. "So keep those super noses of yours out of it."

Scott's eyes widened as Stiles bit down on his bottom lip a bit. But, they were brought out of their conversation when they heard someone shouting from outside the office.

[Donovan was getting led out through the station by Parrish and Clark](https://66.media.tumblr.com/ba5a29803b98e00d03510cf788b67639/tumblr_oveuzlQgDH1tkw616o1_250.gif), with his lawyer trailing behind them.

"I'm going to be blunt, it's not good, but the DA's offer is still pretty reasonable."

"What's reasonable?" Donovan asked him but was cut off by Clark.

"Talk in the van guys. Let's go."

But Donovan yanked himself out of her grip to look his lawyer square in the face. "No, tell me, what's reasonable?"

Jordan moved over. "Mr. Stewart, are we going to have trouble with your client?" he said sternly as he glared a bit at Donovan.

"No deputy." He then paused as Donovan took a breath and settled a bit. Then he moved to answer him. "They want you for three to five. So, why don't we get to the van and we can discuss a plea bargain that gets you out in two."

[Donovan stared at Stewart for a moment as he let it all sink in](https://66.media.tumblr.com/81c675a80a82c72d6318a1352eda742f/tumblr_oveuzlQgDH1tkw616o3_r1_250.gif). Three to five years in prison. Three to five years of his life, gone. A fire began to stir in him and he just let it explode.

"STILINSKI!" he roared.

The door opened and Noah walked out with his son and his friend behind him. His face fell at the sight of Donovan being held by both Parrish and Clark while Stewart was wordlessly trying to get Donovan to be quiet.

But the young man didn't care as he glared at him. "I'm going to kill you!" he spat out.

Noah sighed. "Donovan, if you think that shocks me…remember it was well documented in your Anger Expression Inventory. Deputies, escort the prisoner out."

But Donovan dug his heels in to keep himself from getting taken out as he kept his gaze locked on the man. "I'm not angry like I'm gonna throw a brick through your window. I'm angry, like I'm going to find you, get a knife, and I'm going to stab you with it until you're dead. And, when you look at me and you ask me why, remember right now. [Because this is why](https://66.media.tumblr.com/34b567670e39f016cce4007d76f4ec4d/tumblr_oveuzlQgDH1tkw616o7_r2_250.gif)."

Parrish, Clark and Stewart were all watching Donovan all looking a bit stunned at his declaration. Noah stiffened as they looked at Donovan who was wearing a smug expression on his face.

Scott narrowed his eyes as he picked up the chemo signature Donovan was giving off. Pure hate mixed in with a hard desire for blood. This guy wasn't just ranting. He meant every word he just said. And, no doubt, Stiles could feel what this guy was giving off about his father too and sent a concerned gaze his way.

They were all silent for a moment before it was broken with the sound of slow, hard clapping.

Stiles let out a handful of claps, shaking his head with a smile though it didn't seem to reach his eyes. "Wow. Awesome. That, that was just great," he said mockingly. Everyone turned to look at him as he moved a bit forward to stand at his dad's side. "Beautiful, could you do one more? Give us another one, maybe a bit like Christopher Walkien this time, you know." He smiled widened as Donovan's smug look flattened as he turned to look at him instead of his dad. "No? Oh, don't worry. It's okay. [You'll have plenty of time to work on it when you're in your tiny, little cell](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/BlondInformalHamadryad-size_restricted.gif). You know, like forever," he finished with a shrug and smug look himself.

Donovan just kept staring at Stiles for a moment as his gaze looked over to see that the Sheriff was fighting to smile. That caused him to snap and he tried to throw himself for them but [the deputies grabbed and pulled him back](https://66.media.tumblr.com/2bcf2e46e0a1d270d5daf4c4d623ff6b/tumblr_nr3n6fs94H1s6h3qoo2_540.gif) before he could get a foot closer. He then started roaring out in rage as the Sheriff flinched while Scott moved to hold the man's shoulder and Stiles quickly glared at Donovan as he jumped ahead to block his father from his view. He couldn't help but clench his right hand tightly as he felt an itchiness around his fingertips as his claws were crying out for him to bring them out but he resisted the impulse.

"Get him out of here!" Noah ordered them.

Donovan persisted in kicking and screaming as Parrish and Clark pulled on his arms and started dragging him out the door. He caught Stiles' eyes as they glared at him and he moved to match as he was pulled out of sight.

"You alright?" Scott gently asked as he let go of the Sheriff and saw he was still giving off a hard stare at the doorway.

"Yeah," he nodded. "When you've been around pissed off werewolf teenagers enough times, things like that don't really get you that much."

Scott turned to look over at Stiles who was still glaring off at the door as they could hear Donovan wasn't stopping in kicking and screaming as he was taken to the van. Scott saw his best friend's right hand shaking a bit at his side as he tightened it into a hard grip and went over to him. It was a good thing that Donovan didn't get closer to the Sheriff or he had a feeling he would be heading for the Beacon Memorial instead of County Jail.

"Hey, what the hell's an Anger Expression Inventory?" Scott asked.

"It's a test you take when you're applying to be a deputy," Stiles answered for him.

Scott's eyes widened. "That guy wanted to be a cop?!" he asked incredulously. The very idea of Donovan being in a police officer's uniform was unbelievable and after everything he'd seen and been through, that was saying something.

Stiles scoffed. "Well, at least now he's getting the full law enforcement experience," he said with petty satisfaction.

"Why don't you boys head on out now?" Noah told them. "And Stiles, I know it's been a rough day today but try to relax and take it easy tonight, okay?"

Stiles let out a small sigh but he nodded and Scott followed him out of the station without a word. They got to the jeep but didn't leave right away though it wasn't by choice. Stiles kept turning the key but the engine just kept refusing to start.

"C'mon," Stiles moaned as he kept trying. This was starting to get aggravating for him to deal with all the time. His eyes went up when he felt that Scott had his eyes on him. "It's anxiety."

"What is?" asked Scott.

"What I'm giving off. We're all acutely aware how often you monitor my chemo signature."

"Well something is bothering you. Even your dad said so. Is it about what just happened with Donovan and your dad?"

"It's not about Donovan," Stiles sternly breathed out.

"Is it about your dad dating again?" Scott guessed next.

"No, it's not. I'm happy for him, really. Okay? You can relax." He then turned the key again but the engine still refused to start. "Damn," he grit his teeth and slammed his hand down on the wheel.

Scott stayed silent for a moment as he watched Stiles move to take a deep breath and just move to grip the wheel with both of his hands as he let his back lean into the seat. "So, what is it about?" he asked after a moment.

Stiles sighed as he looked over at him before shaking his head. "Alright." He then dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "A few hours ago, Braeden sent me this. It's the first solid lead we've had on The Desert Wolf in months."

He handed Scott the phone as soon as he got to the picture. Scott's jaw dropped as he looked at it. There were half a dozen bodies there, mauled and their blood was all over the surrounding walls and floor. And on the floor, there was a word written in their blood. It said FOUND ME.

"The Desert Wolf did this?"

"Yeah," Stiles huffed out. "And I'm the one who's been pulling on this thread."

For years, the Desert Wolf has been silent and hidden. Stiles knew that in order to find anything, he had to put some feelers out. He not only asked Braeden for help, but had asked Derek, Satomi and even Scott's dad if they could use their resources and connections to help look for any sign of her. Now, she suddenly shows up and begins leaving a trail of bodies behind. He knew that couldn't be a coincidence, especially with that blood message attached. Word must've gotten to the Desert Wolf, this Corrine that he was digging around for her. Malia's mother was trying to send him a message.

"Maybe you should stop," Scott suggested, unknowingly saying the message out loud.

But Stiles shook his head. "It's not up to me. I showed my dad when I got it and he said that I should go and tell Malia."

"Are you going to?"

He was still for a moment before he closed his eyes and nodded his head. After all, he learned his lesson when he tried to hide the truth about Peter being her father from Malia. "But tomorrow. Right now, she's having a girl's night with Lydia and Kira. She doesn't need this spoiling it."

He then turned the key again and the jeep finally roared to life.

* * *

The transport van was in full speed on the somewhat empty road. Donovan was cuffed and sitting across from a guard while Mr. Stewart was in the passenger seat. He was glaring slightly at the road in front of him.

"Well done," Stewart said before turning to look at Donovan through the metal grate. "Threatening the Sheriff in front of his entire department  _and_  his son. I'll be lucky to get you three to five decades, you realize that?"

He let out a huff as Donovan was silently glaring to the distance. He cursed Donovan's timing. If only the guy had been this quiet as they were leaving the station.

Donovan barely registered what Stewart was saying. His mind was on the Sheriff…and his son, Stiles he liked being called. He remembered seeing Stiles a few times in high school before he graduated two years ago. He remembered halfway into his senior year when word spread about the sophomore who had helped Derek Hale expose Kate Argent as the one that committed those murders and caused the Hale Fire. Not only that, but he heard the kid had been caught a few times trying to sneak his way onto crime scenes for years. Donovan remembered his dad telling him that word was going around that the Sheriff's son wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. Seeing that mouthy brat standing there, coming out of his dad's office and then smugly run his mouth like he helped his dad run the place made his blood boil. No doubt Stilinski was going to help his son become a cop while he was off, stuck in a cell. His fingernails started to dig a little into his palms. Donovan wanted to kill the Sheriff even more now.

The van started to speed up a little bit and Stewart looked over at the driver. "You mind slowing down? I don't think this kid's in any rush to get to prison." But the driver blinked rapidly and flinched when he raised his arm and hissed in pain. "You alright?" he asked him.

"No," he grunted. He pulled his hand free from the wheel and it was stiff. "My hand…I think I'm having-"

The next second, the van started to dart around, and speed up even more.

"Whoa, alright slow down!" Stewart screamed.

"I can't!" the driver screamed back.

Donovan started darting around in his seat and snapped out of his thoughts. "What the hell is going on?!" he spat out.

"He's having a heart attack!" the guard next to him choked out.

The driver grunted as he tried to regain control and stop the car but his body was going numb. He couldn't lift his foot to hit the brake. "My legs! I can't move my legs!" he desperately cried out. He managed to swerve the car a bit to just avoid hitting a pillar as they went into an underpass. "Grab the wheel!" he cried to Stewart.

Stewart moved to grab the wheel to try and steady the van but they didn't slow down.

"Can't you hit the brake?!" Donovan spat at them. But he stopped when he noticed something dripping down onto the nearby shotgun. He looked up and saw that it was coming from three holes on the roof of the van. It didn't look like water, but some kind of clear ooze. "What's happening?"

Stewart was fighting to keep control but the driver's other hand was still on the wheel and was tugging it into the opposite direction. "I got the wheel, let it go!"

"I can't," the driver cried.

"Get off the road!" the guard in the back cried out to them.

"Hit the brake!" Donovan roared at them just before the van started to rub against some asphalt and create sparks.

They were now in a narrow tunnel and were hitting it side to side. The two in the back kept screaming for them to get off the road and hit the brake. Stewart kicked the driver's foot away as he then managed to slam his own foot on the brake and finally stop the van. The four of them took a moment to catch their breath and slow their heartbeats down but they all suddenly heard something. Above them.

The guard in the back went to grab the shotgun. "There's something on the roof."

Donovan's eyes went up. He could hear it. Something was walking on it and causing the van to shake with every step it took. Soon there was some hissing and snarling.

Stewart was darting his eyes around before he saw something outside the driver's side window. "Tracy?"

Tracy eyed her father for a moment before she let out a growl and threw her claws right through the window and tore the driver's throat out. Her father got sprayed with his blood as Donovan started to freak out and panic. He called for his daughter as the guard behind him aimed the shotgun and started to shoot at her. The next minute, Tracy pounced off into the van.

Shotgun shots and snarls filled the van and Donovan threw himself out of the back door a moment later. He grunted as he landed on the hard pavement but quickly got to his feet and started to run off, not looking back as the sounds started to echo in that tunnel.

After a moment, it all stopped. Stewart started to make his way out of his seat and crawled a bit before he pulled himself to his feet. He looked over at his daughter who was calmly staring at him, covered in blood.

"Tracy?" he breathed out.

"Don't worry daddy. I won't let anything happen to you." [She smiled](https://www.purefandom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/twtrailer.jpg) as she used the line that he always used on her right before he always left her alone. Tracy had to admit, Theo had been right. This all was fulfilling…and satisfying. And she knew this next part would be just as so. She revealed her fangs to her dad and pounced.

Donovan managed to get to the edge of the tunnel just before he heard Stewart's last scream and he then lost his balance. He lifted his head as he heard something. He looked up and [dimly made out The Surgeon standing a few feet away from him](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_503_hellmouth_1.gif). He was carrying something in his hand and as he started to move for him, Donovan saw it looked like an injection gun. He managed to get up and started to run but he was grabbed by the other two doctors and restrained. The Surgeon then moved and brought the gun to Donovan's head where it drilled into his ear and began pumping the Quicksilver compound into him. Donovan screamed as his eyes went completely silver.

* * *

"It's okay if you don't know where he is, it's enough to just put the word out. Hopefully it finds it way back to him and he decides to give a call. I appreciate it, thank you."

Satomi sighed as she hung up the phone. She rubbed at her eyes as she heard someone outside in the hall.

"Satomi?" Wilson's voice called out.

"In here Wilson," she sighed out. A moment later, the door opened but Satomi didn't look up from staring at her phone. "It's a good thing you're here Wilson, I have something I need to share-" She finally looked up at him and saw that he looked frantic. She quickly tensed up. "What is it?"

"Something's happened," he said breathlessly.

* * *

Lydia was driving to pick up Kira with Malia sitting next to her in the passenger seat with some low music playing.

"Are you okay?" Malia suddenly asked her as they started to pull into Kira's neighborhood.

"Yeah, why?" Lydia asked, keeping her eyes straight ahead.

"You seem anxious about something." And Malia had been around Stiles long enough to know the scent of anxiety off the bat. "Your car reeks of it. And it's not just from you."

Lydia guessed it was from her earlier time with Jordan, which she didn't really want to get into right now. "Maybe you're just smelling yourself? Being anxious about getting behind the wheel."

"No." Malia looked away and shrank into the back of her seat. "Smells like…Parrish."

"Yeah, I dropped him off at the station before I picked you up." Lydia straightened a bit in her seat and her fingers fidgeted on the wheel. She could still the heat from his hand holding hers. "You say he was anxious too?"

Malia nodded. "Very anxious. I'd say as much as you were."

Lydia stiffened up. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," she nodded before she narrowed her eyes curiously. "Why?"

"No reason," Lydia sighed before she started to pull in to the sidewalk. "We're here." She then took her seatbelt off and honked her horn to signal Kira. "And you're going to drive."

"What?"

"You heard me. C'mon." She then got out of the car.

Malia blew at the front fringes of her hairline stressfully but got her seatbelt off to get out of the car herself. She stepped out in time to see Kira lightly jogging over to them with her usual smile.

"Hey," she breathed out. But she stopped when she saw them out of the car. "What's up? I thought we were going to mall."

"We are. But Malia's going to drive us there."

Kira's face widened a bit. "She is?" Her dad had told her all about his crash course lesson with Malia, emphasis on crash.

"Yes," Lydia told her sternly. "So, c'mon. Let's go."

Malia got into the driver's seat as Lydia went to sit in the passenger seat and Kira got in the back.

"Okay, let's get going" Kira said, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt. "Just put your hands on the wheel at 10:00 and 2:00."

[Malia moved to do just that](https://66.media.tumblr.com/0184591a11252f431e2424bcb883cb1e/tumblr_inline_nr30vuJrgF1qblsol_540.gif). Lydia though shook her hands.

"Actually, the recommended position is now 9:00 and 3:00. Prevents you from breaking your thumbs when the air bag is deployed.

"Mine would heal," Malia said bluntly.

Lydia gave her a look before moving to adjust her hands. "Just move your hands, and start it up. We don't want to be too late."

For the first few minutes, the drive seemed to go quite smoothly. Malia managed to get them out of Kira's neighborhood without much incident. Though when they got to the main roads, that's when things got a little…interesting, to say the least. Lydia was giving her directions but Malia was barely starting to register her voice.

Seeing the dark and lonely road, Malia found her grip on the wheel tightening. She blinked and, for a second, found herself on a different road but it had a similar setting. She blinked again to find that she was making the car zig zag through the street, unable to stay in a single lane.

"Malia," Kira said as she gripped her seat hard to steady herself. "You're heading off the road."

Malia gasped and tightened her grip on the wheel even more when there was a sudden beeping noise. "What's that sound?"

"It's warning you that you're to hit that tree," Lydia told her. "Turn. Get back on the road [Malia](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_503_malia_driving_2.gif)."

Malia just managed to turn them away from hitting a tree and got them back into the road. But, she had gotten so flustered that she was starting to drive them in circles.

"Malia?" Kira asked after the third circle.

"What? You said turn."

"Maybe you could put more gas into it," Lydia said, gripping the headrest of her seat.

Malia then sped the car up as they turned and got them to be somewhat straight again as they headed back down the road.

"Good, good, there you go," Kira said enthusiastically.

"[Please shut up](https://i2.wp.com/www.teamtsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/yes-Malia-yes.gif)," Malia said stiffly.

"Okay, shutting up," she said quickly. It was clear to her that Malia's nerves were only getting more hyped up.

And they acted again when she started to speed them up.

"Okay, just turn left right here," Lydia said, pointing at the turn right up ahead. "Slowly, slowly," she quickly added when she heard the skid of the tires.

Malia slowed down a bit and they managed to get steady again, somewhat. She looked around. She didn't recognize where they were at all.

"Wait, where exactly are we?" she asked them.

Kira leaned forward and frowned. "Yeah, this doesn't look like the way to the mall."

"It is. The mall is downtown and that's where we're going."

"Lydia, if we were going to the mall then shouldn't we have made a right turn back there?" Kira asked her.

Lydia stiffened. Kira was right. Lydia was leading them the wrong way.

"So, I should turn us around?" asked Malia.

"No," Lydia mumbled. "Keep going."

Malia and Kira gave her a look and saw the expression on Lydia's face. It was one that was all too familiar to them at this point.

About ten minutes later, they began to pull into a tunnel and Lydia told Malia to stop the car. The three of them then started to get out of the car.

"I smell blood," Malia told them as soon as she stepped out. "And gunpowder."

They walked down the road a bit before [they came across the prison transport van](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images-new/48877/tw_503_header__span.jpg) that Lydia had seen with Parrish earlier. It was wrecked and there were bodies lying around. One of them, still moving though barely.

"Call 911," Lydia said as she stared the carnage.

* * *

Brett and Lori Talbot were calmly walking off together into the woods with some crickets going off around them.

"Why do you think Satomi suddenly called for the pack to have an emergency meeting?" Lori suddenly asked.

Her brother gave her a look as they kept walking. "I don't know, and to be honest, I'm kind of scared to know."

Satomi didn't call these things lightly. The last time a meeting like this was called was back during the whole Deadpool crisis. Brett didn't want to think that they were about to face something equally as bad as that again.

After a few more minutes, they made it to the meeting spot where they saw that everyone else was already there. Their pack had once been around over twenty in number but over six months ago had been reduced by roughly half. There were only three others that were Brett and Lori's age while the others were all adults. One of them being the pack's Second Wilson and he called for Satomi at the sight of them.

"Everyone's here now," he told their Alpha.

"Good, then we can get started." She went off to be in the center of them as everyone else all moved to form a circle around her. "I'm sorry that I had to call this meeting so quickly but it seems that there might be a situation."

"What kind of situation?" Brett asked. He knew them both long enough to tell that Satomi and Wilson were both concerned and stressed about something. Whatever this was about, it couldn't be something small.

"Recently, some things have happened in the last few days. I was given word that an unknown rogue werewolf had been found in Beacon Hills, barricaded into the wall of a house. It broke free and attacked friends and members of Scott McCall's pack, including the Alpha himself. They're alright," Satomi quickly said, as she saw alarm come over their faces. "They managed to chase him away."

"If they chased him away then why are you nervous?" asked one of the betas to the side.

"This particular werewolf was not normal. He didn't possess claws, he was armed with talons." She was silent for a moment to let that thought sink in with everyone. She saw her betas start muttering to themselves or look at one another. Brett and Lori shared a shocked look. "The talons were broken off and recovered from this rogue. And that's not all. I was just told about a wolf being spotted at Beacon Hills High School the other night. It attacked Liam and one of his friends."

"Is Liam okay?" Lori quickly asked her.

"He's fine," Satomi assured her. "He managed to chase it away. But wolves are not indigenous to this area and for it to show up right after this strange rogue appeared, I have reason to believe that something might be in the works."

"But you said that this is happening in Beacon Hills, around the high school," said one of the older betas. "Doesn't that make this Scott McCall and his pack's issue? Maybe we shouldn't get involved."

Lori narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, you mean like how Scott and his pack shouldn't have gotten involved when my brother was about to lose his head or when we were all about the be gunned down?" she asked savagely as her brother glared at him beside her.

He quickly held his hands up in defense. "I didn't mean it like that," he quickly said as everyone's eyes went a little sharp. "I know that they're our allies and they helped with those assassins six months ago, but that was their problem too. This doesn't have anything at all to do with us. Maybe we should just leave it to them and not get involved."

"Settle down," Wilson barked at them.

"He's right. Stop that, right now," ordered Satomi. They all quickly went silent and Lori backed off when Satomi went Alpha and looked directly at her. She waited a moment before continuing. "Yes, under normal circumstances, you would be right that it would be wiser to leave it to them. However, I think that has changed given what Wilson found this afternoon."

"What was it?" asked Brett.

"One of our territory markers…Wilson found it had been wrecked."

"Wrecked?" asked one of the older betas that had been silent until now. "What, you mean it fell or something?"

"It was destroyed," Wilson stressed out. "It was the eastern stone Satomi marked and it was completely reduced to a pile of rubble."

There were a few gasps at that and Brett moved to take his sister's hand and squeeze it a bit. It was one thing to ignore the marker, that meant trespassing. But to go and flat out destroy it, that could be taken as an act of war.

"Could that rogue have done that?" asked one of the younger betas.

"No," Wilson told the kid. "There were no traces or scents that I could pick up or track anywhere around. And I could feel something that felt like…electricity around."

"So maybe lightning struck it?" the young beta suggested. "There was a storm just a few days ago."

"Lightning just strike a rock out of nowhere?" one of the older ones said. "Get real."

"I was just asking."

"Enough," Wilson stepped in before the betas could get into an argument. "Look, we don't know exactly what is going on but with so many things happening at once, it would be foolish to believe that they aren't connected. Or to think that they're going to limit themselves to Beacon Hills and the McCall pack. We are practically next door. If whoever or whatever is behind all this gains momentum, what are the chances it'll decide to come after us next. We have to nip it in bud."

"Thank you Wilson," Satomi said, giving him a look. He nodded and took a step back to let her take over. "He's right, whatever is going on, it's not something we can just ignore and think it'll go away on its own. I called you all of you to warn you that you need to stay on your toes as you go about your day to day routines. Keep a sharp eye on everything and everyone around you and report anything strange you see, hear or feel. Understood?" All of her betas nodded. She then looked over at Brett and Lori. "And for you two, I have a little favor to ask."

* * *

Lydia, Kira and Malia didn't have to wait long before the police arrived. The first one that did happened to be Jordan and he rushed to them as soon as he got out of his police van.

"You three alright?" he asked the three of them though he was looking at Lydia as he did. Malia and Kira nodded but Lydia still had her gaze on the bodies. "Lydia? Did you-"

He didn't have to finish his question. Lydia knew what he was asking.

She nodded. "Yeah. I felt it."

Jordan then looked over to the headlights of approaching police cars. He told them to stay off to the side and let him take care of it. In ten minutes, the area filled with activity as police, coroner and EMT's covered the place. Jordan had been surprised when he saw the Sheriff arriving, still in the suit he left the station in.

"I came as soon as I heard," he said before he pulled Parrish aside. He chanced a look over at the girls. "Did Lydia-"

"Yes," his deputy nodded. "Something attacked this van. I found claw marks on all three them." Jordan then sighed. "Stewart's dead. And the guards of the transport, it's not looking too good. EMT's think there's a good chance they might be comatose."

"God," the Sheriff sighed. "What about Donovan?"

Jordan shook his head. "No sign of him. Do you think he might've done this? Could he have been a werewolf or something?"

He went to grab at his hips as he looked over at the attacked van. "I don't know. We'll have to wait to find out for sure, though if I know my son, we won't have to wait very long."

Scott and Stiles had been driving off in the jeep when the police scanner in there picked up the call about the transport. They arrived just in time to see the last of the officers still barely alive being led off on a gurney. Parrish caught sight of them and told the officers to let them through. The two of them saw the girls to the side but they saw that Stiles' dad was heading over for them. Stiles frowned at seeing him as that meant he had to skip out on having his date tonight.

"What happened?" Stiles asked him.

"Not sure, but it looks like something attacked them. Now, you boys were there at the station and saw Donovan. Do you think he could've been like you two?"

Scott and Stiles shared a doubtful look.

"Don't think so," said Scott, shaking his head. "He didn't smell like us."

"Yeah, besides if he was a werewolf then he wouldn't have been carried out of the station as easily as he was," Stiles said as he remembered how Donovan got carried out during his meltdown at his dad. If he had a werewolf's strength then he would've easily broken free.

"Well, human or not, there's a chance he might've just killed his lawyer and mortally wounded two officers. We've got an APB on him." He looked a bit uneasy at Stiles before quickly turning to Scott. "Do you think you can find him faster?"

"Yeah," Scott nodded.

Stiles rose his eyebrows. "Not me?"

"Maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea for you to go and look for Donovan," his dad said hesitantly.

Scott understood the Sheriff's worry. He was too. Stiles was staring at his dad and Scott put a hand on hiss shoulder. "It's okay, we both don't need to track him. Why don't you stay and see if you can find anything with the van?" he suggested.

Stiles narrowed his eyes as he stared at the wrecked vehicle for a moment before he let out a deep heated breath. "Okay, I'll stick around."

Stiles' father went and handed Scott a radio. "Keep it on channel 2"

Scott took the radio and headed off. He picked up Donovan's scent leaving the tunnel and went in hot pursuit. He found it heading for a fence and he jumped over it and landed firmly on his feet at the other side. His red eyes glowed for a moment before he took off after it.

Back at the van, Stiles was sniffing around but couldn't get too close to the van with the coroner still around. The smell of blood was mixed in with gunpowder as it all drifted through the air of the broken down van.

Up above, Theo was watching from behind a pillar, downwind, so that Stiles didn't pick up his scent. He was surveying the aftermath of Tracy's attack on the transport. Apparently, this Donovan guy was a candidate to be a test subject for the Doctors. The Surgeon wanted for Theo to give them access and he managed to convince Tracy to help him out. She was eager to finally let loose all the aggression she had built up on the people who treated her like a weak and helpless thing and wanted to start on her father. Theo couldn't help but be impressed at the damage she did after only having her powers unlocked for two days. He smirked down at where Stiles had been left behind by Scott but quickly backed around the column a moment later when he noticed Stiles turning around.

Stiles had felt a prickly feeling at the back of his head and turned to look up on the overpass. There was nothing there but he couldn't help but glare slightly regardless. His father started to come over and stand right beside him. He noticed Stiles looking up at a spot of the overpass with a small degree of focus.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Noah asked him.

Stiles let a hard puff out from his nose. "Maybe…probably not." He then looked back down at the van.

Noah could only guess his son might be a little hurt he turned to Scott for his help instead of him. "You know, Stiles…I wasn't trying to upset you or anything back there. It's just that Donovan is pretty angry with me and I know you're still upset about what happened back at the station. Now, with all this, I didn't want things to get more out of hand by having you and him get close so soon after which is why I asked Scott to go after him."

Stiles held his hand out to him. "Dad, it's fine. I get it. You can relax, I'm okay."

He nodded. It was clear that he wanted to move passed this as much as he did. "So, smell anything?" he asked his son.

Stiles' frown flattened a bit and he took a few more sniffs. "The only scents I'm picking up at this van are Stewart's, the two officers and Donovan. Just the four of them."

"So, then Donovan really could've done this?"

But Stiles shook his head as he crutched down in front of the open back doors. "No, I don't think so. His scent, I smell it perfectly. He was terrified. Just as much as the other three were."

Stiles let his hand go down on the pavement and as soon as his fingers made contact, he found everything around him disappear and found himself staring down at Donovan on the ground. He had a look of terror on his face as he struggled to get to his feet as there were sounds of growling coming from inside the van. But he couldn't see inside and everything around them was foggy. Stiles then snapped out of it before he could see or hear more.

"Stiles?" his father said in concern. "You just froze up. Is something wrong?"

Stiles blinked. It might not have been too strong but he knew he just tapped into an event scar. Probably from Donovan's fear mixed with the other three. "They were attacked, all four of them. By someone or something else. I just can't tell who it is."

"Why? Shouldn't they have left a scent for you and Scott to pick up?"

He shook his head. "There are shapeshifters who are able to mask and hide their scent from being picked up. Whoever attacked the van probably wants to make sure we can't track after them."

"You sound like you might already have an idea of who that might be," Noah said knowingly as his son got firmly to his feet.

"Yeah, I think I might."

[Up above them](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/teen-wolf-pack/images/a/a1/Stiles_and_noah_dreamcatchers.png/revision/latest?cb=20170415215014), Theo was chancing sticking his head out for another look at them.

Over in the alleys, Scott was still tracking Donovan's scent and it led him to a condemned building. He was looking around when he suddenly heard shouting coming from the side. He saw someone moving for him and he quickly grabbed and threw them to the ground. He looked down to see Donovan, shaking and looking at him in complete terror.

He then pulled out the radio. "Guys," he called in.

Parrish picked up Scott's voice and he called everyone to him. "Scott, is that you?"

" _Yeah, I found Donovan_ " they all heard him say. " _He's completely freaked out and he keeps saying some name._ "

Noah grabbed the radio. "What name?" he asked him.

"Theo," Stiles mumbled.

Malia heard him. And so did Theo from his hiding spot.

" _Tracy. He keeps saying Tracy_."

"Tracy who?" Noah asked.

"Stewart," Lydia answered. "Tracy Stewart."

* * *

Over in the forest, some recently dug ground was rising. A few seconds later, the ground broke as a young woman was digging herself out. She took a deep breath as her head hit the air before she began to cough and spit out some dirt. In the meantime, she was being watched up in the trees by Theo. He knew where the doctors had buried their two most recent experiments and it seemed he had arrived just in time for one's incubation process to be finished. He already had Tracy, and after tonight, he might potentially have another after Donovan's injections kick in, but right now it didn't seem like it would be quite enough.

Once the girl was out of the hole, she started to move and clean the dirt that clung to her. Yet, she flinched as she cut herself. "Ow," she hissed as he brought her hands up and then gasped as she saw there were sharp long nails growing out of her fingertips. They were like some kind of needles. Her eyes began to let off a dim orange glow as she started stumbling a bit with every step she took as she kept her startled gaze on them. "Wait…what is this?" she gasped as she kept backing up until her back hit a tree.

"They're your new claws."

She quickly turned around to find Theo standing up on the branches. She backed away a bit and he smirked down at her. After a moment, he jumped down and landed firmly on his feet, in front of her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm like you," he said with a smirk.

Theo then revealed his glowing yellow eyes and she glared at him.

"Did you do this to me?!" she cried. "What have you done to me?!"

Theo held his hands in a slight calming gesture. "Hey wait, just calm down."

But the girl didn't seem to settle down in the slightest. The glow of her eyes brightened and she charged for him. Theo darted off to the side to dodge the slash she attempted to make on him. Her claws missed him and struck at the tree he had jumped off from and five deep lines were carved into it. She froze as she surveyed what she had done to that tree. Theo's eyes rose in amazement too at how deep those carvings were.

She was now looking at her new claws again. Not with fear, but with awe. She had cut through that tree like it was butter and it felt…good. "I did that?"

Theo straightened himself back up. "You did. What's your name?"

"Courtney," she answered. "You said you're like me. What are you?"

"I'm a werewolf." He then emphasized it by extending his hands to bring out his claws.

Her eyes widened. "You're a werewolf? Like, a real werewolf?"

He shrugged. "Real enough."

She then dropped her gaze from him back to her hands. To her needle like fingernails. "Are you saying that I'm a werewolf too?"

"Not exactly."

"But you said you're like me?"

Theo shrugged again. "Part werewolf, yes. But…with a little something, extra."

He knew the Doctors used werewolf DNA as the base of their projects. Yet, they were mixing components and features from other creatures and animals as part of their research. That first guy, Belasko, he had been infused with both werewolf and crow DNA. He also had been surgically given the talons from a garuda that was killed by hunters over ten years ago. And Tracy no doubt had Kanima DNA and venom mixed within her. For this one, Theo couldn't be sure as he couldn't think of what animal or creature had sharp, needle like claws but it was clear they were quite strong.

Courtney held up her hands to show her claws to him. "Are my hands stuck like this?"

He shook his head. "Just calm down. You can retract them back into yourself. Breathe and clear your mind." He then demonstrated by holding out his claws and letting her watch as his hand shifted back to normal before her eyes.

Courtney followed his example and took a deep breath as she cleared her mind. After a moment, the long nails started to fold in on themselves and pretty soon, her hand was back to normal. She flexed her fingers and touched the fingertips, as if to make sure they were truly gone.

"Whoa," she breathed.

"Impressive," Theo mumbled.

It truly was. While creations of the doctors were quicker to rein in their shifts and power faster than natural supernaturals, Courtney had managed to gain a good handle on it faster than normal. Could it be because she was a mature subject? As Theo was now looking at her up close, he saw that this girl didn't seem very familiar. He couldn't recall seeing her around at the high school but didn't seem too much older so she probably finished school maybe one or two years ago.

After spending about a minute looking at her hands and at what she did to the tree, Courtney looked back at Theo. "What else can I do?"

He let a smile creep up on him. It looks like this might be easier than he thought. While he was slowly making progress with Scott, Malia, and the others, Stiles was still suspicious as he had been ready to accuse him of the attack on the transport by impulse. The guy was tenacious, Theo would give him that. Stiles would be watchful of his every move, word, and be on the lookout for his scent the whole time. He would need help to make the moves that he couldn't make if he was going to end up with the ultimate pack.

* * *

It was the morning before school and the whole pack was there. Scott, Stiles, Kira, Malia, Lydia, Liam and now Mason. They were there to talk about Tracy and what their next moves would be.

"Tracy wasn't just having trouble sleeping, it was a real disorder. She was having night terrors," Lydia explained to them.

"Yeah, well now she's the night terror," Stiles mumbled to them as he unconsciously drew spirals with his finger. "Especially since no one could find her."

"And you couldn't pick up her scent anywhere?" asked Kira.

Stiles moved to aggressively rub at his eyes. "No, not a trace. It was like she wasn't even there."

"So, she can hide it?" Liam asked. "How can she do that? I thought that was supposed to be hard to learn. I mean it took you and me over two weeks of practice before we finally got it."

Scott's eyes shot up. "Wait, you two can hide your scent now?

Liam nodded. "Yeah, we picked it up over a week ago. Satomi and Wilson helped us."

He then looked over at Stiles. "You didn't tell me that."

"Huh? Oh yeah, it must've slipped my mind in the wake of all the death starting up in town again," he said glumly.

First Stiles and his event scars and now both him and Liam being able to hide their scents. Made him wonder what else they have been up to together in the last six months while he'd been studying and working at the hospital.

Malia rose her eyes as she looked at Stiles. "Well, if we get through this, then you're going to teach me."

Scott cut in. "Look [I know we're all tired and miserable](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ImpassionedPassionateAustralianshelduck-size_restricted.gif)…" He looked at each one of them but froze as he looked upon Mason and found that he was the only one smiling amongst them. "Except for you."

He jumped at the sudden attention. "Oh, I'm sorry. [This is all just mind-blowing](http://38.media.tumblr.com/3a4a3431bf272994b458e88d89a235d7/tumblr_nqt68k7JWn1twvww0o4_r4_500.gif)." He then looked over at Kira. "You're a kitsune. I don't even know what that is."

Kira blushed a bit. "I'm still learning."

Stiles rolled his eyes before he looked over at Liam. "[Liam, we said you could tell him. Not invite him to the Inner Circle](https://tvrecappersanonymous.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/inner-circle.gif)."

Mason's eyes nearly popped. "I'm in the Inner Circle?" he asked excitedly.

["No," both Stiles and Liam said sharply](https://data.whicdn.com/images/192026632/original.gif).

"Guys," Scott said breaking this up. "Back to Tracy." He then looked over at Stiles and Liam. "Do you think Satomi turned her?"

Both Stiles and Liam shook their heads. They knew every single member of Satomi's pack and Tracy was not one of them.

"We've never seen her with the others. And Satomi would've said something, right?" Liam asked Stiles.

He nodded. "Yeah, if she were going to turn someone she knew went to school with us then she would've given us a heads up."

"Then who turned her?" Kira asked. "Could there be another Alpha hiding somewhere?"

Scott shook his head. "I don't know. But the best way to find out is to find Tracy. And we can. There's six of us and she's just one lone wolf."

"One lone serial-killing wolf," Malia said.

"Uh, she only killed one person," Stiles pointed out. "The other two were mauled." He then looked up to see Scott giving him a short look. "Well, when do find her, what happens after that?"

"I say we put her down," Malia threw in.

Everyone went silent at that. Scott's jaw tightened a bit as he didn't want to consider that option. Stiles looked to be considering Malia's suggestion, Scott wasn't too surprised there. But it also seemed that Liam, Lydia and even Kira were giving it some thought, even if they seemed a bit uncomfortable at the idea.

Mason's eyes widened at the air that came over the group. "[Intense](https://data.whicdn.com/images/188242500/original.gif)," he said, breaking through the silence.

Scott shook his head. "Guys, let's just focus on catching her first. We'll figure out the rest after that. Okay?"

They all sighed but nodded just the same. They all then started to head off into the school and Mason took off with Liam.

"So, this is what you and those guys do all the time?" he asked his werewolf friend.

Liam shrugged. "More or less."

"Sick," Mason muttered breathlessly.

* * *

Noah was at his desk, letting his head rest in between the palms of his hands. A long opened envelope was in his hands and he was staring at it as his mind went a mile a minute. He had just gotten off the phone with his old partner just a few moments ago. He thought it would be best for him to give the latest news about his son.

"I guess we all can't have a son as smart and heroic as yours, can we,  _Sheriff_!"

Those had been the last words Donati had sarcastically screamed at him before the man had hung up on him after he finished telling him about what had happened with his son the previous night. Things between him and his former partner Donati hadn't really been too good since the night he'd been hurt on duty. Noah always felt a little guilty for what happened. Donati hadn't really talked to him much since then and the times they had were tense when Donovan had started acting out. But, now with all these new events with his son Donovan, they seemed only to have gotten worse.

"Sheriff?" Noah looked up and saw Parrish standing there. "He's awake."

Noah sighed and placed the envelope into one of his drawers before getting up. It was time to see what Donovan knew from last night.

Donovan was sitting up against the wall of the holding cell back at the station. He was staring at his hands as he was rocking slightly and not saying a word. He barely reacted when Noah and Parrish opened his cell and he moved to stand a few feet in front of him.

"I want my lawyer," he said, not tearing his eyes away from his hands.

"Your lawyer's dead," Noah reminded him.

Donovan rolled his eyes. "I want another lawyer."

"I know you saw something," [he said gently](https://www.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/teen-wolf-season-5-episode-3-sheriff-stilinski.jpg) to the kid. "Tracy killed her father and mortally wounded two officers. One girl against three grown men. No matter how unbelievable you think it's going to sound, I promise you can tell me."

Donovan snorted. "I like that tone of voice Sheriff. It's nice. Makes you seem like someone who wants to help." He was starting to get pissed off again, like he usually did when the Sheriff was in his airspace for too long. But he stopped with his tirade when he felt pressure in his inner right ear and started to hear a deafening ringing sound. [He moved to grab his ear](https://media0.giphy.com/media/JkWnUea3HC8Ks/giphy.gif) as both the Sheriff and his deputy looked at him curiously. But, it went away after a moment and Donovan looked up to glare at them. "I want a new lawyer."

Noah sighed and he nodded before he started to back away from the cell. It was clear that if Donovan did see something during Tracy's attack, he wasn't going to tell him.

"I found out why we couldn't find Tracy last night," Parrish told him as soon as he got out of there. "She was in the hospital?"

"Doing what?"

"Killing her psychiatrist," he answered.

Noah let a deep and tired sigh loose. "Alright, I'm going to head on over there. You let Scott, Stiles and Lydia know but tell them that I don't want them to getting into this just yet."

Jordan had a feeling that they would be doing just that if they weren't already. "You sure we shouldn't be putting them on the payroll?" he suggested half-heartedly.

"I'm starting to wonder."

Noah then took off and Jordan left the holding area behind him. Donovan glared as they left. He didn't hear too clearly what they were saying but he heard the Sheriff mention his son's name. He tightened his hand into a fist just as the ringing started up again, but this time, it didn't hurt.

* * *

Before they could separate for their respective classes, Stiles pulled Malia aside and showed her the picture that Braeden had sent him. She quietly stared at it for a while, without moving a muscle.

"I wanted to show this to you as soon as I got it, but my lack of self-control," he said, trailing off pathetically.

But Malia didn't move her eyes from the photo. "My mother did this?"

"Yeah. Braeden did tell me that these guys were bad. Very bad." She had told him that they were hitmen for hire. Some of the shadiest in the business.

"So, they deserved it?"

Stiles took a moment to think. "Well…yeah, I guess. Not sure if anyone deserves  _that_ , per say though."

She nodded. "Yeah, well I guess we know two more things."

"What?"

Malia finally tore her eyes from the phone to look at him. "One…she's good at her job."

Stiles couldn't help but nod. "What's the other?"

Malia moved to zoom in on the message written in blood. "She knows you are too."

* * *

Liam and Mason headed into history class just as the bell began to ring. Liam took a moment to stop and look upon Hayden, who was giving him a blank stare. It looked like the seat next to her was taken though. This meant that he might be able to find a seat a good distance away and be relaxed during history class for once. But Mason grabbed him before he could finish making his way to the nearest empty seat.

"What?" he asked him.

Mason pointed to the seat that was next to Hayden. Liam took a closer look and his eyes widened when he realized just who was the one sitting in it. It was Tracy. Liam took Mason and pulled him back out of the classroom.

"What do we do?" Mason asked him.

"I got to find Scott. He has to know."

"What about me? What do I do?"

"Uh, find a way to get everyone out of there." Liam then took off to head for Scott's AP Biology class.

"But, how am I supposed to do that?" Mason hissed after him but Liam was already gone.

Mason started pacing as he didn't know how he was supposed to clear a room of kids away from a werewolf that went and killed her own father last night. His eyes then fell on a fire alarm on the wall.

In the Biology classroom, Scott, Kira, Lydia and Theo were getting back their exam results back from their teacher Ms. Ramsey.

"Scott, good to see where your priorities are," she said to him as she handed back the test.

Scott looked down and saw that he had gotten an 86. He couldn't help the relieved smile that came on his face.

Ramsey noticed it as well and looked right at him as she got back to her desk. "Since you have a good grasp of the subject, how about you lead us in a review of last night's reading?"

Scott's face fell a bit as his teacher gave him a pointed smile. "Uh…sure," he said, quickly opening his textbook.

He hadn't done last night's reading as he had gotten distracted by that business with Donovan and Tracy. He wasn't even sure what page it was and was frantically looking for it. As he was flipping through the pages, he caught sight of Liam through the door. He was frantically waving at him.

"Scott?" Ms. Ramsey asked, pulling his gaze away from Liam to see that she was getting impatient.

"Sorry," he jumped. "Just looking for the page."

He went back to flipping through the book but Liam was still at the door, trying to wave him over. Now, Scott wasn't the only one looking at Liam but Kira and Theo noticed him too.

"Scott?" Ms. Ramsey, said again, more sternly.

"Yeah, one sec. Sorry." Scott then quickly pointed at his ear to let Liam know he was listening.

Liam ducked around the corner and began to speak. "Scott, she's here. She's in history class right now. Tracy."

Theo listened in as well. He smiled to himself. Tracy was sticking to the plan.

They were all snapped out of it when the fire drill began to ring.

Back in the history classroom, Mr. Yukimura had begun writing his notes on the board, oblivious to who was in the back of his class. Tracy was breathing hard as she started hearing distant echoes of people screaming. The sounds of them making her claws start to come out from under the desk, eager to tear into more people.

Her heavy breathing drew Hayden's attention. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked her. But as she got a good look at the girl, she frowned. "Are you even supposed to be in this class?" She then noticed that the girl wasn't even wearing shoes.

The fire drill then sounded and everyone started to get up.

"No rushing please," Mr. Yukimura told them. "I'm sure it's just a drill."

Hayden got up herself but saw that Tracy wasn't moving, still grasping onto her desk tightly as she stared off into space. "Hey, we need to go," she told her. "You alright?"

She finally started to look up and noticed that Scott McCall had walked in and was standing with Liam Dunbar, Mason Hewitt, and Mr. Yukimura. They were looking at her in concern but weren't moving as there were still one or two people still leaving the room. It was just like Theo told her. They were concerned for her and she now had to reel them in. Tracy looked over at Hayden and went to grip her arm, sinking her claws in a bit, making her gasp in pain.

"Tracy," Scott said, slowly going for her. "Tracy, let her go."

She let a hard hiss out but she blinked as everyone around her disappeared. Suddenly, she was seeing those people in masks that took her from her home. She was growing hotter and started to feel dizzy. She blinked rapidly but it only started getting more intense.

"They're coming," she gasped, before she just passed out.

Scott looked down at her to see that her mouth was bleeding out, not blood, but some kind of silvery goo.

* * *

A/N: The chimera Courtney isn't really an original character. It happens to be the chimera that Melissa McCall found dead in her home with Kira's sword stuck in it. That happened to be the only appearance of this chimera so she's a character that I'm completely free to play with and one that Theo will make use of in this new turn of events.


	9. Dreamcatchers 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tracy is brought to the animal clinic but they fail to hold her. Liam and Mason go to visit Brett and Lori as they team up to try to learn more about Tracy. The station is attacked by more than just Tracy.

Scott and Mr. Yukimura were moving Tracy through the halls that were thankfully empty for the fire drill. Stiles and Malia managed to meet up with them just in time to lead the way out so they could take Tracy off to Stiles' jeep. Liam and Hayden were watching after them.

"She wasn't even supposed to be in our class," Hayden hissed out. "[Where are they taking her?](http://reallylatereviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/tumblr_nr3zi2EzbW1qgz80bo6_400.gif)"

Liam watched after them as they got out the door and went out of their sight. "Hospital I guess," he muttered. Then he looked down at the scratch on her arm that Tracy gave her. Hayden was still rubbing at it a bit. "You need some help getting to the nurse's office?" he gently asked.

But Hayden sneered at him as she pulled herself away from him. "[I can take care of it myself](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_503_hayden_liam_2.gif), thank you." She then took off without saying another word.

Liam just sighed and shook his head. He had only been trying to be nice and Hayden still rips his head off. Was there any winning with that girl? But he shook his head as this wasn't the time to dwell on that. He turned around in time to see Mason coming over to him with Lydia and Kira in tow a second later.

"I filled them in," Mason told him excitedly.

"Mason said that she bled gray blood from her mouth?" asked Lydia.

Liam nodded. "Yeah, right after she collapsed. Scott and your dad are carrying her over to Stiles jeep with Malia."

"To take to the animal clinic?" Kira asked him. He nodded.

Mason's eyes widened. "They're taking her to an animal clinic?"

The three of them didn't respond to him but kept their attention on the current issue.

Kira sighed out in relief. "That's good. The place is lined with mountain ash, right? She won't be able to escape."

"But even if they keep her contained there, that still won't tell us who turned Tracy," Lydia pointed out.

"Or why this is happening to her," said Kira. "The fainting spell and her bleeding that gray blood. Could she be rejecting the bite?"

"Why would she start rejecting it after she turned?" asked Lydia. She knew from experience that an Alpha's bite either turned you or killed you. If it didn't take then you started bleeding black blood. But it was either or. It didn't work for a while and then start making you sick. "This doesn't make sense."

There was then a ding from Liam's phone and he brought it out to take a look. "Lori just texted me. She wants me to go and meet with her and her brother."

"Why?" Kira asked him.

But it was Lydia who answered. "Satomi."

* * *

Hayden got to the nearest bathroom and moved to clean the blood off her arm. She rubbed at it so she could see just how deep she had been scratched by Tracy's nails. Yet, when it was all cleaned up, there was no scratches or cuts anywhere on her arm.

"Wha-" she breathed out.

She just stared at it as she wondered what was going on.

But there was someone on the other side of the bathroom door who did know. Theo could smell Hayden's confusion and nervousness. It looked like her transition was being quite subtle at the moment. That was a relief. He was already taxed trying to keep tabs on Courtney and Lucas coming into their powers. Then there was the situation with Tracy.

He then headed off for the classroom and moved to the spot of grayish blood on the floor. He crutched down and moved to scoop up some of the blood with his fingers and closely examined it. He knew what it was. Quicksilver, or Mercury. That would mean that Tracy didn't have much time.

He quickly left the room but stopped when he noticed Lydia, Kira, Liam and Mason off to the side, talking. He listened in on them and narrowed his eyes as talk got to Satomi. The Alpha that he had caught Stiles frequently meeting with this summer.

* * *

Derek was looking down at the photo of the bodies that Braeden sent him along with his sister. She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the carnage.

"So this Desert Wolf did this all on her own?" she asked her brother.

"Completely," he nodded.

"I'm starting to see why Peter hooked up with her. She looks like as much a psychopath as him. Exactly his type."

Derek couldn't resist a small snort. "Peter dated Scott's mom," he said at her questioning gaze.

Cora was taken aback. "You're kidding," she accused.

"Well, tried to date her anyway. Scott and Stiles kind of stepped in and rear ended his car, cutting their first and only date short."

She let a small chuckle loose, wishing she could've seen that, before her eyes fell again onto the picture. She quickly sobered back up. "These men…they weren't hunters, were they?"

"No," Derek said with a shake of his head as he leaned down closer to it. "But Braeden said they were top grade mercenaries. They're known for taking some jobs in the criminal triads now and again. They're no pushovers, that's for sure."

"Yet, the Desert Wolf slaughtered them."

"She did, but this wasn't a typical shapeshifter killing. Take a closer look at the bodies. See something different?"

Cora narrowed her eyes as she tried to sharpen her focus on them. It took her a moment but she saw it. In the wounds on the bodies. "Not all of them have claw marks. It looks like they were shot."

Derek sighed. "Apparently, Malia's mother has her own personal arsenal."

"A shapeshifter who uses guns? That's different." Cora knew that most shapeshifters didn't want to bother with weapons since they are practically a weapon already.

"But not new," he said. Kate had kept use of her arsenal after she turned and that was what made her even more deadly. Luckily, she was now locked up in Eichen House. "And this wasn't her first time. It's one of the reasons that she is hard to track as her hits could either have the makings of an animal attack or a shooting homicide."

Cora could sense that Derek was feeling a little scared. She didn't blame him. The Desert Wolf was starting to scare her too. She especially was nervous about the message in blood she left behind. "Where was this anyway?"

"It was a condemned textile factory in Arizona. According to the coroner's report, the time of death was at least four hours before the bodies had been found. She's long gone by now."

"You don't think she'll head to Beacon Hills, do you? For Malia? Peter?"

"No, I don't think so, at least not right away. The Desert Wolf didn't get to where she was by being predictable. Besides, Braeden thinks she's been looking for something."

"What?"

"We don't know."

"I just hope it's not anywhere near us."

"Yeah," Derek nodded. "Me too." He knew they already had enough to deal with, closer to home.

* * *

After leaving Liam and Mason to try and get a lead from Satomi's betas, and with Scott, Stiles and Malia off with Tracy, Lydia and Kira decided to try and see if there was anything at Tracy's that could give them some answers. They were able to sneak into the house and made their way up for her bedroom. But before Lydia could open the door, Kira stopped her.

"Wait, aren't we breaking into a crime scene?" she asked.

Lydia thought for a second but shook her head. "No." She then opened the door and they found that there was police tape wrapped around her bed. "Maybe."

"What are we supposed to be looking for?" Kira asked.

Lydia began to walk around the room. "I don't know. Mostly, I'm just following a feeling."

"Your feelings usually lead to dead bodies."

"Well, let me know if you find one," Lydia said to her, almost nonchalantly.

Kira sighed but nodded as she started to look around. Lydia took a moment to think they had finally gotten to a point that the concept of coming across a dead body was now a normal and numb experience.

They looked around the room and Kira found Tracy's dreamcatcher gift from her father. Lydia then guessed that Tracy was stuck in a night terror, and was killing people in her sleep. They were just hoping that now that she was taken to the Animal Clinic, Deaton could help them find a way to wake her up and snap her out of it.

* * *

The jeep pulled up to the clinic and they could already see Deaton at the front door, waiting for them. Deaton held the doors open for them as Scott, Stiles and Malia quickly carried Tracy inside. They lay her down on the metal table and Deaton moved to grab a light and begin his diagnosis.

"Is she okay?" Scott asked him.

Deaton began to check into her heart rate before moving to look at her eyes.

Stiles was watching off to the side and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, Scott?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you notice something off about Tracy?"

Scott looked down at the unconscious girl as Malia and Deaton looked over at him. After a moment, he nodded. "Yeah, I can't pick up her scent. Even when I'm just a few inches from her."

Stiles nodded in agreement. "Malia?"

Malia shook her head. "No. Me neither."

Deaton looked down at her. "That is strange. As Satomi no doubt taught you, a werewolf has to be conscious to conceal their scent. You can detect nothing at all?"

"Well, I am getting something from that," Scott said, pointing to the gray substance leaking out from Tracy's lips.

"Yeah, and it doesn't smell like blood," Stiles said. They all knew that scent off the bat by now. "What is that?"

Deaton focused on it. "Well I can't be 100% sure, but it seems like it might be mercury."

Tracy's body then had a jolt which got them all to jump a bit in surprise, but she stayed laying on the table.

"Can't you just give her a shot of something?" Malia asked.

"She doesn't look to be in any pain," Deaton told her.

"I meant a shot to kill her," Malia said, poking the bear, or wolves.

Scott and Stiles moved to spare each other a brief look.

Deaton stared at her blankly. "I generally prescribe to a code of ethics that frowns on such measures."

Scott sighed impatiently. "Malia, you know we're not going to do that."

"And how do you know she's not going to kill us?" she said back.

Stiles pointed over to her. "She makes a decent point. My dad sent me a message right before the fire drill. Tracy went and killed her therapist this morning."

"She doesn't know what she's doing. It's not her fault," Scott said to him. "It's whoever turned her."

"Well, either way, Tracy has already killed 2 people in less than 12 hours and mauled two cops." Stiles then pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?" Scott asked him.

"I promised my dad that I would let him know if anything turned up. I have to tell him we have her here."

Deaton nodded. "Agreed," he said before looking over at Malia. "And while I may argue against euthanasia, I'm not opposed to a little, extra security," he said as he reached for a bottle of mountain ash.

He then [threw the dark powder off for the entrance](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/teen-wolf-pack/images/8/81/5x03_ash.png/revision/latest?cb=20160209204321) of the room to complete the barrier of ash.

* * *

The sheet was pulled back to reveal the great gash cut into Tracy's therapist's throat. Sheriff Noah Stilinski sighed out heatedly as Melissa McCall just nodded before staring down sadly at the corpse.

"Cause of death, cut throat, most likely caused by-"

"Claws," Noah finished for her with a grunt.

"Yeah," Melissa sighed out. "Death was almost instant."

He then closed his eyes in both physical and mental exhaustion. "How was he found?"

"One of the nurses saw Tracy leaving his office. We're actually used to seeing her around, she comes by every now and then for a session with him, but the nurse noticed that Tracy had no shoes on. Tried to follow after and to see what was wrong, but she lost sight of her so she went back to the office and found him in his chair. Her screaming brought everyone close by and one of the doctors quickly called the station."

Suddenly, they heard a text alert coming from his phone. He picked it up and saw that it was from his son and opened it. "It's Stiles. They found Tracy at the school. Says that she collapsed and they're took her to the animal clinic."

"They're there now?" The Sheriff nodded. "Well, at least they can keep Tracy from hurting anyone else. That mountain ash Deaton has lining his office will keep her from leaving and causing anymore trouble."

Noah then moved to rub at the side of his head. "Why? Why is Tracy doing this?"

"Uh, isn't she just out of control? Because she was freshly turned. Scott told me all about what happened when this all started for him."

"Yeah, Stiles told me all about too but, no," Noah shook his head. "Something just doesn't add up."

He looked back at the therapist's slashed throat. Tracy attacked the transport her father was in, but he was the only one she killed. She only attacked the officers because they were in her way. And now, a hospital full of people in the morning, but she sneaks in, kills her therapist, and sneaks out without any more trouble? Noah then remembered what Stiles told him. How Tracy's scent was being kept from being picked up. This didn't seem all accidental.

But before he could think more on it, a nurse knocked and let herself into the morgue. "Sorry, Melissa, Sheriff, you need to come quick."

"Why? What's wrong?" Melissa asked.

"One of the officers from the attack at the transport. The driver, he's awake."

* * *

Stiles was looking over and saw as the dust settled and the ash had formed a perfect line in the doorway, with no ash scattered anywhere else on the floor. Deaton could see Stiles' rising anxiety as he stared at the line.

"There's no reason to worry Stiles. Tracy won't be able to cross the mountain ash line," he said to him assuredly.

"Yeah, actually that's kind of what I'm worried about. All of us being trapped here, with her," he said giving Tracy a side look.

"Well, I'll be able to leave here with no problems," Deaton told him. "And, I'm confident the three of you can handle one rogue wolf together, and have each other's backs." That made the three of them share looks with each other. "So again, there's no reason to worry."

Malia moved to the edge of the room, standing just a few inches from the barrier. She carefully extended her hand out and a moment later it met the edge and they could all see a wall of blue light. She felt her hand pushed away a second after contact and it disappeared.

"Weird," she said, staring at the doorway.

Stiles moved over and grabbed her hand. "Yeah," he sighed to her.

He then went to extend his own hand out towards the barrier. When it reached the edge, the wall of light appeared again. But Stiles kept his hand out as he tried to push at it. It didn't seem to budge or let his hand move an inch. He then sighed and dropped it before letting himself lean closer to Malia. Scott was watching and his eyes narrowed a bit. Stiles' hand hadn't been thrown back by the barrier like Malia's. His mind then began to run a mile a minute that he almost didn't hear Deaton calling him.

"Scott?" He turned around back to look at Deaton who was getting a scalpel ready. "Would you mind holding her down? I'm going to be trying a few more, invasive tests."

Scott nodded before he looked up over at Stiles. He nodded back and moved over to hold one of Tracy's arms while Scott held down the other. Deaton then moved the scalpel to make an incision on her arm, It ran across the skin but it didn't cut it. He then held it up to see that the edges had been bent back.

"I think we're going to need a bigger blade," Stiles droned out.

Deaton moved to try and keep working, but he seemed to be having difficulty. The lack of answers was starting to get suspenseful and the three teens started to pace around the room. Scott's phone then started buzzing.

"What's up?" Stiles asked him as Scott took a look.

"It's my mom. It's about the driver from the prison transport. She's saying that he's awake and talking with your dad."

As the two boys talked, Deaton was feeling around her neck when something underneath her skin started moving and he pulled his hand back in shock. "Malia, help me turn her," he quickly told her.

Scott waited for his mom to send the next message and it soon came. "She says that the driver didn't suffer a stroke or have a heart attack but he says that he felt his body just lock up."

Locked up? Stiles couldn't help but feel that sounded familiar. "Like…he was paralyzed?" Stiles muttered. That made Scott catch his eye. Stiles gasped. "I think I know what she is."

"Well then would you care to enlighten the rest of us?" Deaton called out to them. "Because this doesn't look too good."

The two of them made their way over where both Deaton and Malia seemed a bit nervous and anxious. Tracy had been turned around on the table Deaton lifted her shirt to show that her back had something…moving along her spine. The four of them kept watching it, in complete suspense, before her back suddenly split open and blood suddenly sprayed out, hitting Scott and Deaton but Stiles and Malia had managed to duck out of the way in time. They then saw that the thing moving was actually a reptilian tail. A tail that was all too familiar to Scott and Stiles.

It was starting to move and Stiles felt his nerves begin light up. He jumped back just before he could get struck with the sharp end of her tail but Deaton had been hit and cut at his arm. Malia had run forward but Tracy's tail spun forward and struck at her wrist, making her stumbled back into the table behind her. Tracy was crutched up on the table as both Scott and Stiles stared at her. Scott tried to take a step towards her but she went and clawed at shoulder. Stiles ran for her and Tracy moved to slash her claws at him next. He managed to catch her at her wrist and stop her attack. Tracy growled before trying to claw him with her other hand but he had already been moving his hand to catch that one too. Stiles bared his teeth as he glared at her attempts to try and pull herself free from his grip. But Tracy moved her tail and it wrapped around Stiles' right leg and gave it a tug. He had been so surprised that his grip loosened and Tracy struck at Stiles' chest, making him cry out in pain. Tracy pulled herself from his grip and then ran out of the room. They all watched Tracy head right for the ash line, and ran through it like it wasn't even there. They caught it breaking away just as Scott and Stiles found themselves unable to keep on their feet and they fell to the floor, flat on their backs.

Now all four of them were all lying helplessly on the floor, the venom Tracy doused them with rendering them completely paralyzed.

"Tracy, she's not a werewolf," Stiles gasped.

Scott let out a pained gasp. "She's a kanima."

"That's why you couldn't detect her scent," Deaton threw in. "Kanima's don't have one in the conventional sense."

"Like Jackson," Scott grunted out as he remembered how they couldn't track him when he was the Kanima.

"Hey Deaton, how the hell did she get through the Mountain Ash?!" Stiles barked out.

"I don't know," he sighed. "It's a barrier that no supernatural creature should be able to cross or break."

"What? Me and Scott both did it," Stiles said hysterically.

"Once," Scott pointed out. "Yours was a fluke and it almost killed me."

"We should've killed her!" Malia shouted out.

"Yeah, and meanwhile Tracy is going out there and probably going to kill someone else." Everyone else thought she was safe and secure with them at the clinic and there would be no one to stop her. "We have to go after her!"

"But we can't move!" Malia cried.

"Listen!" Deaton sternly said to them. "You kids have to concentrate. The three of you should be able to move much faster than I could but you need to focus."

"Focus on what?" cried Malia.

"Healing," Scott told her.

"That's right," said Deaton.

"I don't know how to tell my body to heal!"

"Pain," Stiles grunted out. "It triggers our healing and should help it push the venom out. I've seen it before. Stabbed myself in the leg with my keys once." But he then let out a frustrated grunt. "Ugh, but I can't even move my hands to try and force myself to."

"Pain's not the only way," said Deaton. "Focus could be used as easily as pain. You can will your bodies to heal."

"Then tell us how?!" Malia struggled but couldn't even shake her head.

"Whoa, Malia, it's okay. It won't last long," Scott said to her. "Doc, how do we focus?"

"Think of a body part. Your hands, your feet, even just the tips of your fingers. Imagine them moving. See it in your mind and your body will follow."

Scott, Stiles and Malia let out deep breaths as they tried to focus like Deaton told them and try and get themselves free from the effects of the venom.

* * *

Brett was off with his fellow lacrosse teammates, practicing. [He was darting passed anyone trying to intercept him and went and launched the ball for the net](https://66.media.tumblr.com/5c0d5597f8a6cab67873c8f49d317aad/tumblr_inline_oxgzj9Y7n81uqv8jn_540.gif), which made a hard whack when it made contact. He then back up and let himself revel in his impressive goal.

Liam and Mason had arrived and Mason was ogling Brett. Half of which had to do with the fact that he was shirtless. The other half being that he was trying to take in the fact that he was another werewolf.

"This guy is a werewolf too?" he asked Liam, mystified.

Liam crossed his arms, trying to look unimpressed with Brett's recent play. "Yeah," he sighed out.

Mason shook his head as his smile widened as he focused his guys now at [Brett's muscled torso](https://data.whicdn.com/images/243223935/original.gif). "Oh, this just gets better and better."

"Don't let my brother hear you say that." Liam and Mason turned their heads over to see Lori walking over to them from the side. "It'll get to his head, and god knows it doesn't need to get any bigger than it is now."

Liam snorted. "I hear that."

"Hi Liam," she said, smiling at him.

"Hey Lori," he said, smiling back to her.

"I heard about what happened at the school with the wolf. I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks."

Mason watched as the two of them smiling at each other for a moment before he cleared his throat, rather loudly.

Lori blinked as she looked over at him. "Uh, Mason, right?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I remember you, from back during the lacrosse game six months ago. And, you…you're a werewolf too?"

She glanced over at Liam. "You finally told him?"

He nodded a bit sheepishly before she smiled. She then let her golden eyes show and Mason let out an excited gasp.

"Wow," he muttered. "They're just like Liam's."

A while later, the three of them were joined by Brett as Lori started to tell Liam all about the marker being destroyed and Liam told them about the new werewolf in their midst. He then brought out Tracy's picture to them.

"Cute," [Brett mused as he looked at the girl](https://66.media.tumblr.com/0f8faee11576364c9691237262213592/tumblr_inline_opt3h5YSCE1uqv8jn_540.gif). "But I've never seen her."

Lori shook her head. "Me neither. If Satomi turned anyone then she would've told the rest of us to expect new pack members."

"And after that whole Deadpool thing, Satomi isn't really in a hurry to do any recruiting for the pack. Well, at least until we're all back on our feet and things have settled a bit."

Liam nodded. So, he and Stiles had been right. Satomi hadn't turned Tracy. "Something tells me that's not going to be anytime soon," he sighed. "And you guys haven't heard anything about a new Alpha coming into town lately?"

"Not that we know of," Lori said as she shared a look with her brother. "Though a few think that if there was, then they might've been who destroyed the marker."

"We're keeping our eyes out for them now."

"So, is that how it works?" [Mason asked them](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/B_5eRa9hP4I/mqdefault.jpg). "Alphas just come in and go around biting and turning whoever they want?"

Brett nodded. "Or you could be born a werewolf like me and my sister. Our family died in a fire and Satomi took us in."

Lori let a sad look pass across her face, one that Liam noticed.

"I'm sorry," he said to her.

She blinked it away. "It was a long time ago."

Brett moved to put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him to catch her brother's eye. She moved to put her opposite hand over his and Brett let a small smile come over him. Liam and Mason started to feel like they were intruding on a private and personal moment between the siblings. Liam tried to distract himself with focusing on Tracy's photo but he saw something that made him start zooming in. On her neck specifically. To the necklace she was wearing. A flash of memory passed over his eyes.

"Hey," he mumbled, bringing everyone out of their moment.

"What?" asked Mason.

"Tracy's necklace," he said, moving to show the picture of it to the three of them.

"What about it?" Brett asked.

Liam narrowed his eyes in determination. "I've seen it before."

At the other end of the field, underneath the stands, stood Theo and he narrowed his eyes. It seemed as if it wasn't just Scott's pack he had to navigate through now. He listened in and heard how they were going to the woods to find Tracy's necklace and the two other betas told him that they were going too as their alpha had asked for them to help Scott's pack in any way they could. It would seem that this Satomi that Stiles had been seeing, she and her pack, were going to interfere. That would be a problem. One pack he could navigate his way through, not two. He sighed as he carefully left. Maybe he just found his use for Courtney after all. But, first things first.

* * *

Scott, Stiles, Malia and Deaton were still scattered on the floor of the clinic's examination room, still paralyzed from the venom. None could check the time to see how long they've been paralyzed but from the windows, they can see that the sun had already long set and night had fallen.

"Okay doc," Stiles grunted out. "I don't think the whole focus thing is working out that well. Do you have any more tips and sage advice we can try?"

Deaton turned his eyes to look up at him. "Nothing is coming to mind quite right now," he said dully.

It had been a year since he felt these kind of effects but Scott could sincerely say that he didn't miss feeling this way. His body felt like a lump of lead and he could barely turn his head. He looked over at Malia and noticed that her fingers were moving.

"Malia?" he asked, drawing Stiles and Deaton's attention to them.

"I don't think she cut me that deep," she grunted.

Stiles thought back to her attack. "Yeah, Scott and I got clawed by her but you got cut by her tail."

"The dose of venom wouldn't be as much," Deaton agreed. "Keep going. Keep moving."

Malia let out a cry as she focused on moving her other hand. She cried out as she managed to pull it up and tried to push herself to get to her feet. Pushing on herself, moving her feet as she leaned on the table when she started to wobble about.

"It's working," she gasped as she started regaining the normal feeling in her limbs.

"Wait for us," Stiles cried out to her.

"No. there's no time."

"She's not a werewolf. You won't be able to track her."

"No, I can. She scratched you and Scott. Your blood is on her. I can find her."

"Malia," Scott said, making her look at him. "Save her."

Malia grunted out impatiently. Saving Tracy was the last thing she felt like doing right now. But she swallowed it down and ungracefully stomped out for the exit. She looked down at Stiles as she stepped over him.

"You be careful, you hear me," he told her.

She gave him a nod and moved to head out of the clinic. She pushed out the front doors and was moving like she was suffering a cramp. She sniffed the air and quickly found the trail left by Stiles and Scott's blood. She had the direction and started to quickly limp off. Around a parked mini-van, Theo stuck his head out and followed after her movements. When she was far enough away, he moved closer to the clinic and made sure he was ready to come in when he had to be.

* * *

Lydia and Kira were still in Tracy's room, trying to make sense of what was going on with her.

"Okay, so she killed her dad and he was only trying to help her."

"So was her psychiatrist," Lydia threw in. "And maybe that's why she went to the school? She was looking for someone who was just trying to help."

"Yeah…oh, maybe it was you?" That made Lydia turn to face her. "Or not, you know, since that would mean she wants to kill you."

"No," she said quickly. "You're right. I was trying to help her, but, so was someone else. My mother. What if Tracy went to the school to find my mother?"

"Where is she now?"

Lydia's face fell. "On a date."

"With who?"

* * *

It had been over half a year when there had been an electrical fire at the town bowling alley, a fire that only a few truly knew who and what had been responsible. It had done serious damage and the place had been closed for months while repairs and renovations had been made. That summer, the work had been complete and the bowling alley had reopened. Changes had been made. There were now some billiards added to the lounge area like foosball and even a pool table which brought a larger crowd of people to come and have fun.

Right now, that pool table had a handful guys in their 20's surrounding it. They were calmly playing and talking about random subjects. But, the news about the attack on the police transport came up.

"You know, they say that it was an animal," said one of the guys at the table, leaning a bit on his pool cue.

"Another animal attack?" said another. "Geez, how many does that make now? I've honestly lost count."

"Who knows," the first guy shrugged.

One of the other guys bent down to take aim with his cue, for his shot. "Where'd it happen?" he asked before he took his shot.

"It was over by the overpass downtown. Apparently, a lawyer and two cops got attacked when they taking a prisoner off to County."

"The guy got away?" asked a guy nearby.

He nodded. "Yeah, but they caught him again, like an hour later."

The guy snorted in response. "Now that's crappy luck."

That made the others chuckle in amusement too. But one of them sobered up pretty quick.

"Still, I heard that one of them was killed and the other two were mauled and knocked out, comas. Add that to the growing pile."

"I know. Living in the boonies is supposed to be safer than the big city but I think it was better when I lived in L.A. I swear, a handful of times, I swear I've heard the sound of gunfire echoing out at night a few times, automatics at that. Somebody's got to do something. Things around here just seem to get more and more out of control."

"Yeah, I know. It's like ever since they caught that psycho chick who caused the Hale fire and killed all those people, in these last two years, the killing rate has spiked in this town."

"It's like she made people start to snap. A guy from work, six months ago, he was caught trying to kill some kids at the high school by lighting them on fire. I always thought he was a normal guy."

"I hear you. You know, my neighbor had been in the hospital when those freaks dressed like ninjas came in and attacked everyone with swords last year. Thankfully, no one died but he still has trouble sleeping after that. And they still haven't caught those guys."

Some of them nodded or tightened their stances. Soon, another stepped up.

"I'll raise you one. Remember that kid that went psycho and started killing people left and right until he was found drowned after murdering deputies over at the police station? He and his parents used to live only four houses away from me." That got a few of them to gasp or widen their eyes. "His parents went berserk and ditched town like the day after his funeral."

"Yeah, I went to school with one of those deputies' kids. We went and tagged the house with spray paint a few days after it happened. Probably why," he snorted, making a few of them snort too.

"I lost my girlfriend," one of them of them grunted, making all of them look at him. "She was working a DJ gig at a rave two years ago. They found her, with her throat slit. Just lying there, out in some trashy corner, killed by that psycho kid. So, do I win?" he asked with a rough tone.

That made everyone just be silent for a moment.

"People here are going insane," one of them just huffed out.

"No, not just people. Animals too. Remember that scare at the high school when a coyote got in last year? Or that mountain lion a year before that?"

"What's the deal? It's like you either you meet up with fire loving lunatics, gun or sword wielding nutjobs or you get mauled by a wild animal."

"Or they run into traffic and cause pile ups. Remember that nasty one over a year ago? Some kind of dog, snake or something ran out on Elmwood Drive and caused that six car pile-up. I heard five people died."

As they kept talking, off to the side, in front of the closest bowling lane, sat Virgil who narrowed his eyes at that last part. Virgil had come here on his day off to try and relax but, after listening to all of that from those guys, he felt just as anxious and agitated as ever. Another wild animal not only causing a traffic accident but actually mauling the people inside. That hit too on the nose as memories and old feelings coming back to him.

"What the hell is going on in this town?" he mumbled to himself.

Virgil then heard more from them.

"Yeah, what if it's all not accidents?" said one of them. That made the others turn to him. "You know, what if there is someone out there behind all of it? Or some thing?"

"Some  _thing_?" one of them asked skeptically.

"Yeah. I was born in this town. You hear things sometimes. Stories, rumors. Tell me, do any of you believe in the Supernatural?"

That made the small group of them give him a collective spaced out look.

_Not an accident. Supernatural_

Virgil couldn't help but narrow his eyes as the thoughts ran through his mind as the guy over at the pool table started to get dismissed or argue as he kept going with the others.

He then stepped up to grab a bowling ball from the chute. Virgil stomped onto the lane and put a little more oomph into his throw then needed. He scored a perfect strike. As he moved to sit back down and relax a bit more, he got to thinking. To some of the  _stories_ he had heard, from his grandmother. He reached into the pouch strapped to his waste and pulled out his tarot card deck.

Maybe that wasn't such a crazy thought after all.

* * *

Liam, Mason, Brett and Lori were walking together through the woods, as Liam was trying to back track the path he and Stiles had taken the night they were tailing Theo. Though the key word was trying. The sun had long since set and everyone was getting irritable.

Brett finally spoke up. "How much further?" he asked, making Liam stop walking.

"Uh, shouldn't be much further."

"Liam, I hate to tell you this but I think we've been walking in circles for the last half hour," Lori said as she stopped and looked around.

"So wait, we're lost?" Mason asked them.

"We're not lost," Liam said sternly. "I know exactly where we are."

"Yeah, so do I. Right in the middle of nowhere," [Brett sighed at him](https://66.media.tumblr.com/dd22a542c92b9a73b6e4a803a7f9adb4/tumblr_oekoz996e61v79sbao5_r1_400.gif). "What are we even doing out here again?"

"I told you, we're looking for the hole where I saw Tracy's necklace. It's around here somewhere, we just have to keep looking."

Lori moved off to his side. "Liam, wandering around here in the dark isn't going to find the necklace. Maybe we should come back during the day."

"Or get Scott and Stiles," Brett chipped in. "I mean, they've spent a lot of time in these woods the last two years so they know them pretty well. And, if he was following this Theo guy like you said then I'm sure Stiles remembers exactly where you were when you fell down that hole," he said with a tone of amusement at the end part.

Liam stopped walking and turned around the face them. Brett and Lori looked ready to leave so he looked over at Mason, and saw that his look seemed hesitant.

"They do have a good point Liam," Mason said, uncomfortably. "Maybe we should head back."

But Liam shook his head. "No, guys I know it's around here somewhere," he said starting to back up a bit. "If we keep looking for a bit then I know-"

He never got to tell them what he knew because they saw him disappear.

"Liam?" Mason asked before he and the Talbot siblings ran off.

They found Liam on his back, in a hole. Brett and Mason were snickering at the sight of him and even Lori's lip was quivering a bit.

"I guess you found the hole after all," she said underneath a snicker.

Liam had an embarrassed look on his face as he let his head lean back into the dirt. "Please, don't tell anyone about this," he said as he started pulling himself to his feet. Stiles already gave him enough teasing about the well incident, and falling in the first hole, the last thing he needed was more ammunition.

Mason quickly got out his phone and turned on his light to shine down on it as Liam reached around, looking for the necklace.

"Anything?" Brett asked him.

He looked around for a couple more seconds but could find no sign of it. "No, I don't see it anywhere."

"Maybe Tracy came back and got it?" Brett suggested.

Lori extended her hand and Liam took it and she pulled him out of the hole.

"Thanks," he breathed out to her gratefully to her before turning back to Brett. "No, I don't think she took it. She didn't have it on her back at the school."

"Then what happened to it?" Lori asked him.

Mason crutched down. "Hey, I thought you said this was a sinkhole."

Liam shrugged. "It's a hole. What difference does it make?"

"Well, take a look at the edges. These handprints…and all this dirt."

Brett bent down to a close look. He then dug his fingers into the ground and clawed up some dirt into his palm and it made marks that matched them. "She didn't fall in here."

Liam realized it too. "She was buried."

Lori gasped. "She had to dig her way out."

"Intense," Mason breathed out.

"No, not Tracy," Liam mumbled, making the three of them look up at him. Liam was staring off into the distance. "This isn't the right hole."

"What do you mean?" Mason asked him.

"The bridge. The hole was close to the bridge but it's not here. That's why the necklace isn't here. [This isn't the right hole](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/LargeDeterminedHyena-size_restricted.gif)."

"Then, who crawled out of this one?" asked Brett.

Lori took a few steps off into the distance. "Or these?"

The guys turned to where Lori was looking and they found that there were two more recently dug holes there.

* * *

Stiles was gritting his teeth as he tried to get himself to regain use of his body. Malia had left what felt like a half hour ago and he didn't like the idea of her being alone against Tracy. He was able to start moving his neck a bit and he then moved to lift it up and slam his head down on the floor. A wave of slight pain flowed across his body and he began to feel a tingle at his fingertips and toes. He did it again, and again.

"Stiles?" Deaton asked as he saw what the boy was doing.

"It's alright," he grunted. "I'm getting some feeling back now." He then started to flex his fingers and turn his feet a bit.

Scott put more effort into focusing on his body and found himself able to turn and wobble his torso a bit. "I think I am too," he slurred out.

Stiles lifted his hands and struggled to move them up a bit so he could push and get himself to sit straight up. He then grit his teeth as he had his legs start folding in on himself before he started to move to stand himself up.

"Stiles, be careful. Slow down," Deaton said to him, seeing him wobbling in his attempt to lift himself.

But Stiles couldn't slow down. He threw himself to stand on his feet, in the middle of the room but he quickly started to lose his balance and was starting to fall backwards. However, before he could fall back down, he was caught from behind.

Scott lifted his right arm and leaned up on one of the legs of the operating table to get a better look at the one that caught his best friend. "Theo?"

"Hey," he grunted as he tried to keep Stiles from falling down.

"What are you doing here?" Stiles hissed out. It was unclear if it was from the pain, or from the displeasure of seeing him.

Theo moved him to lean on the operating table before he moved to pick Deaton up and lean him against the operating table too.

"This is Theo?" Deaton asked them.

Stiles nodded as he tried to straighten himself and stand flat on his feet.

"I heard about Tracy. I've been looking for you and I knew you worked here so I came by."

Scott had managed to pull himself up to lean on the table himself and look up at him. "We lost her," he told him.

"And Malia," Stiles added.

"Let me help," Theo said, looking directly at Scott. "It doesn't have to mean that I'm part of the pack. Or like you accepted me or anything like that. It just means I can help catch this girl."

Scott turned away from Theo to look over at Stiles. He had a hard look on his face. Even though he had just helped him, he didn't look like he was ready to let Theo in. Deaton let his gaze move between the boys before they settled back on Scott.

"Scott," Theo said drawing his gaze back to him. "Let me help you," he said gently to him.

Scott stared at him for a moment before he felt everything in him loosening up.

Stiles could already see that Scott had made his decision. And, Stiles couldn't help but feel a hard heat brewing up in his head that seemed to spread out and burn out the last of the venom.

* * *

After finishing with his interview with the transport driver, Noah had left the hospital and headed back to the station. He had sent a text to Stiles to quickly tell him if anything happened. So far, Stiles hadn't answered him back but he guessed that they were all still doing…whatever Deaton needed them to be doing at the clinic. But right now, it seemed that everything was back in order though. They had both Donovan and Tracy back, safe and sound. It looked like he could go right ahead and cash in his rain check.

He finished throwing his suit from last night back on and met his date outside his office. "Thanks for meeting me here. It's been a hectic day at the station. I probably shouldn't even be-" But he froze once he caught sight of her. Natalie Martin, his date.

She was dressed in a lovely black dress and her hair was groomed and it almost looked like silk in the station's low light.

Natalie smiled at how he seemed to be rendered speechless. She couldn't help but think he looked adorable. "Well, I'm glad you didn't have to cancel again," she said in light jest.

"Me too," he sighed.

They spent a moment, just standing there, [smiling at one another](http://reallylatereviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/tumblr_nr2x1lILjW1qixosbo2_500.gif). This was going to be a first for the both of them. Neither had really gone on a real date since Noah's wife died or Natalie's divorce. Both couldn't help but feel both excited and awkward about the whole thing.

But Noah noticed something off at the side. "Clark?" He moved over and found Deputy Clark lying at her desk. He was surprised as nodding off during duty wasn't like her at all. But he saw that she looked wide awake. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I can't move," she muttered fearfully to him.

Noah's face fell at that. Natalie looked over and noticed that the deputy at the front desk was lying over it, still as a statue. They then jumped when the doors opened and Lydia came through them with Kira behind her.

"Mom, she's coming!" Lydia frantically cried out to her. "Tracy's coming for you."

"What? What do you mean for me?" she asked her.

But they all heard a low grumbling noise above them and they looked up to find Tracy. She was growling at them with fangs in her mouth as her reptilian tail flapped around behind her back. Lydia and Noah's eyes widened at the sight of the tail. Lydia had seen that kind of tail before and Noah remembered all the stories he heard his son and his friends tell him about Jackson Whittemore after he was bitten.

"Kanima," they both muttered almost inaudibly.

Tracy's eyes went reptilian before she snarled and then leapt out at the girls. They threw themselves out of the way. Noah quickly reached for his handgun and Tracy growled at him.

Over in his cell, Donovan was nodding off a bit, when he felt a sudden jolt. His eyes opened wide and a silver flash went across them before it faded. He blinked a bit to settle himself but he tensed back up when he heard gunshots being fired.

Natalie quickly moved to hid behind a corner as everything around her went crazy. Noah had tried to get Tracy at the shoulder but she avoided the shots and went and clawed him at his arm. His gun flew off and Noah felt everything in his body numbing and he felt to the ground, paralyzed. Tracy heard a whistling sound and turned to see Kira drawing her sword and swinging it around a bit before taking a battle stance.

"Kira!" Noah screamed out at her.

She darted out of the way as Tracy moved to strike at where her head had been and jumped over down a few feet and growled at her. Lydia was leaning against a nearby wall and her mother was off to the side, freaking out at what she was seeing. Kira and Tracy started to fight, each one seeking to land a solid blow on the other with claws or sword. They both darted, ducked and dodged each other's blows, one after the other. Whenever one made a swipe, the other would avoid it and try to counter, only for the first to avoid that one herself.

After Kira managed to spin and dodge a hard swipe from Tracy's tail that ended up knocking a small desk lamp her way, Natalie let out a frightened gasp which drew Lydia's attention.

"Mom, run. Run now!" she told her.

Natalie gasped but took off to do what her daughter said. However, Tracy noticed her fleeing and moved to go and cut Lydia across waist, sending a rush of venom into her body. Lydia gasped in pain and started to feel her legs beginning to give way underneath her.

"Lydia! Lydia!" Natalie screamed. She had turned around to see the front of her daughter's outfit darkening with her blood as she began sliding down the wall, to the ground.

Kira let out an angered growl at the sight of her friend hurt in front of her and charged at Tracy. She managed to bump her down and quickly jumped onto a desk to take the high ground. She took a stance, and the room started to light up a bit as [her aura started to burn it's way to the surface](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/InsignificantVigorousBlackfly-size_restricted.gif). Noah and Tracy's eyes widened at the sight of a fiery fox outline surrounding Kira. She spun her sword and moved to go for Tracy, as Tracy moved to try and attack her again. She spun herself to try and whack Kira with her tail but Kira brought her sword down and caught it at the base, completely severing it from Tracy who let out a pained hissing scream as she felt it cut off. Tracy then started to limp herself away as Kira just stood there, and seemed to revel in the aura surrounding her. Lydia and Noah watched and couldn't help but be mesmerized at the sight. So beautiful and yet so terrifying at the same time. Kira then took a deep breath and as she seemed to calm down, the aura around her began to dim and fizzle out, until it was gone. She blinked and after seeing Lydia on the ground, she dropped her sword and ran to crutch down at her side.

As soon as she did, Malia began to walk into the station. The smell of fresh blood flooded her nose as she came in and saw deputies down, including Stiles' dad, and Lydia bleeding on the floor with Kira trying to help her.

"Careful," Noah muttered to her.

She nodded and began to move to go after her but Lydia called out and stopped her.

"Malia?" She ran over for her but Lydia just blinked as she could read Malia's face clearly. "No. It's not as bad…listen, Tracy, she thinks…she thinks she's asleep. She thinks she's asleep. It's a night terror."

"I don't know what that-"

"She…she's not dreaming. She's not asleep. Get her to understand," she pleaded.

"Malia!" Noah cried desperately to her. "Basement. They're in the basement."

"They?"

"Tracy, and my mother," Lydia cried out to her.

Malia ran off to go after them while Noah narrowed his eyes. Was that the answer that Noah was looking for back at the hospital? Tracy was doing all this because she was in a night terror?

The stairs to the basement were dark and quiet but Malia tensed and readied her claws. There was a trail of blood and she moved to slowly follow after it. She eventually heard a hissing sound and soon found Lydia's mom, paralyzed and being dragged by Tracy. But she stopped when she caught sight of Malia and brought out her kanima eyes and claws. Malia roared in response and shifted fully before leaping forward to let herself loose upon her.

It was pretty even in the beginning but without her tail, Tracy seemed to have lost her edge. Malia managed to gain the upper hand and threw Tracy to the ground. She placed her foot down on her and Tracy struggled for a moment before she slowly started to shift back to normal. Malia didn't let go right away, still angry and full of rage from her attacking her all her friends both here and back at the clinic. But as Tracy gasped and extend her hand, normal and clawless, out to her, Malia blinked and moved to back off her. Tracy began to gasp out for air as Malia shifted back to normal.

"Tracy," she gasped. "Tracy, are you awake? You're not dreaming. Okay?"

Tracy moved to try and get her bearings back before taking deep breaths. After a moment, she blinked as she got back on her feet. "Where am I?" she gasped out.

"It's okay," Malia said, approaching her comfortingly.

Tracy ducked her head as she moved her hand behind her so Malia couldn't see her extending her claws back on it. Tracy let out a whimper to try and draw Malia closer to her. "What happened?" she said in a tiny voice.

"Don't worry. You're okay now."

But Malia was then thrust back when Tracy pushed at her before moving to try and claw at her throat with a hard roar. Malia fell back to the floor and just avoided it. She began to try and shuffle herself back but Tracy closed in. She was about to strike at her, when a needle suddenly came and thrust itself into her neck. She tensed up as the plunger on it was pushed, by a figure in black, wearing a mask.

Malia tried to get back up and stop him, but she was grabbed by another one from behind and then thrown against the wall. She watched as Tracy's mouth opened and she began [leaking mercury freely from her mouth](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcROKtDHTKsOZ9AgMvmYfHCZyya1iQemMMHT5Dieg4naG2jPf638).

"[Her condition is terminal](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_503_dread_doctor_final_1.gif)," the man said in a distorted voice before pulling the needle out and Tracy fell lifelessly to the ground.

Malia was then let go and the figures began to walk out of the basement, leaving Malia there with Tracy's body.

* * *

A/N: It looks like there might be something in the works for Liam and Lori, as well as him and Hayden. I was thinking of there being two love triangles in the works. One with the three of them to help compliment the one with Stiles, Malia and Theo. One where the girl in the middle is caught between affectional love for one and primal lust for the other, and the other where the guy is between a girl that looks at him as her enemy turned love and a girl that looks at him as her hero turned love.


	10. Condition Terminal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone starts reeling from the Tracy's attack at the station. Stiles finds comfort and direction in a surprising source. Scott discovers the name of these new creatures they are finding. Theo makes his move by recruiting a new ally for his cause.

Two guys were running through the trees as quick and hard as they could. Leaping over fallen logs, ducking under branches and plowing through brushes. One of those running frantically was Charlie Harris. He was panting hard and he darted off the side just before a bullet went and struck the tree in front of where he just stood. Charlie fell down to ground and rolled for the cover of moss covered boulder. He caught sight of his fellow runner, the beta who had been added to the pack just over two months ago. His name was Miles. He had taken cover behind a thick tree a few yards from him. He looked back at Charlie, his eyes glowing yellow as he frantically tried to scan the area.

The boulder that he was hiding behind was then hit with a bullet that scraped some moss off and land close to his face. "Miles, can you see them?" Charlie called out to him.

"No," he panted just before a bullet hit the tree a few inches close to his face. He then pulled himself fully to the back of the tree.

Some more shots were taken at their cover spots. They were pinned down.

"I can hear them," said Charlie, still crutched on the ground. "They're coming for us."

Miles' breathing began to quicken as his nerves began to break. "Screw this."

"Wait!" Charlie hissed after him as he took off. "We should stay together!" But Miles didn't stop. He kept running off. "Damn it." Charlie took a deep breath before he threw himself up and ran off after him.

The sounds of more gunfire kept hitting his ears a few more times before the latest one made him hear a hard scream of pain. He ran for a few more seconds before stopping as he found Miles, on the ground, clutching at his now bleeding leg. Charlie distantly heard a click and quickly ducked down, just missing a bullet finding its way into him. He was now crawling on his belly, moving for Miles and pulled him to some cover.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked him as they got behind some shrubs.

"No, of course I'm not okay!" Miles spat out. "I'm shot!"

Charlie looked off to the distance. "Crap, they're getting closer."

"What?" gasped Miles. "I don't hear anything."

Charlie guessed that Miles hadn't fully grasped full use and control of his new senses yet. But he knew this wasn't the time. "We can't stay here. We have to keep moving."

"I can't move my leg," Miles grunted painfully out to him.

"The bullet must be in your nerve," Charlie said as he looked at the wound. "If we want to move then we have to get it out."

He was cut off by some more bullets firing and hitting around where they were hiding.

"How?" Miles cried out, desperately.

"Uh-" Charlie blinked his eyes rapidly until he looked down to Miles' hand to see that his claws were out. He then focused on his own hand and brought out his own claws. He then stuck in his thumb and forefinger into Mitch's wound, digging in and then got it. Mitch was grunting out painfully. "Hold on, I've almost got it," he told him. He then pulled and he looked upon the blood soaked piece of metal. "Alright it's out."

But Miles' eyes widened. "I can hear them now."

Charlie peeked over the shrub and he could make out dark shapes approaching. As soon as he peeked though, one of them tightened their grip on their rifle and he ducked down just before he could get pelted by the ensuing gunfire. He knew that Miles would need time to heal, more than they had.

"Come on," he said as he moved to throw his arm over his shoulder and try to lift him away.

Miles hissed as he lifted his wounded leg up and tried not to put weight on it as he tried to limp away with Charlie. They moved off a few feet before they came upon the barrels of shotguns, held by two men. They turned around and saw that the ones with the rifles had gotten to them and had them pointed right at them. Charlie and Miles tensed before they all lowered their guns. One of them looked over to the side and they all saw Oscar approaching.

"I gotta say, given your backgrounds, tonight's test results were quite disappointing," he told them.

Charlie sighed out heatedly.

* * *

Donovan was freaking out. For the last couple of minutes he'd been hearing screams, roars, and crashing sounds as he was stuck in his cell with nowhere to run.

"Hey, someone let me out of here!" he cried out desperately. "Come on!"

But his heart skipped a beat when the door at the end opened up and three men came in. His face widened when he saw the one that he met in the alley the other night.

The Surgeon came into the holding cell to observe the subject. He looked terrified but seemed to be handling his injections well enough. It seemed that there was a strong possibility that he could be the success they had been waiting for. Opening the cell, he walked gently inside as the young man leapt back against the wall, looking at him nervously. The Surgeon then removed his injector and his fellow doctors went forward to grab and hold him still. He then shoved the needle into the boy's neck and injected a fresh supply of the solution.

Donovan shut his eyes as he struggled against the pain of the injection. It was so much that he couldn't even screamed but did gasp before opening his eyes to show that they were glowing a silver white color before he blacked out. He was then picked up by the Geneticist as the Surgeon led the way as they left the room.

* * *

As soon as the jeep pulled up in front of the station, Scott, Stiles, and Theo immediately picked up the heavy scent of blood coming out of the building. Stiles quickly picked up the scent of his father's blood and he almost threw himself out of his jeep, leaving the door and engine running. Scott and Theo followed after him, watching as Deaton had gotten out of his own car, following after them from the clinic. Stiles quickly spotted one of his dad's deputies at the front desk, lying motionless on top of it.

Scott came in after him and looked at the deputy and sighed. "There's a heartbeat," he said in relief.

That meant he was alive, just most likely paralyzed by Tracy's venom.

"That's a relief," Theo muttered as he stood next to him.

Deaton walked in through the station doors and quickly spotted a small trail of blood on the floor, leading off into the offices. "Boys."

Stiles saw it too and moved off for where his dad's office was and took a moment to see that there was blood smeared in spots all around the room. His eyes then fell upon his father who was struggling to move.

"Dad!" he cried as he ran over for him.

Scott ran in with Theo behind him and quickly spotted Kira kneeling over Lydia, laying flat on the floor, paralyzed and bleeding. He took one second to wonder what they were doing here at the station before heading to them.

Noah had regained use of his arms and somewhat feelings in his legs through Tracy's venom and was trying to pull himself up. "Stiles," he gasped.

Stiles moved to try and help his dad lean up on the nearest desk and he was securing himself on wobbly knees. He then noticed that his dad still had one hand on a dark spot of his dress shirt. "You're still bleeding?"

"It's not bad," his dad hissed immediately.

He was in pain. Stiles frowned. He hadn't done this in a while, not since before the night of the eclipse. It wasn't because he had forgotten how to do it or lost that ability after he had gotten his power back. He remembered all too well how to do this, and still was capable of it. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. A few times, others had been hurt and he had tried to help them out, but found himself freezing partway through, unable to finish going through with it. He didn't even show Liam over these last few months of training with him; relying on Satomi to teach him that particular trick herself. But his father was hurting and he wouldn't put helping him off on someone else when he could do it here and now.

"Hold still," he told him. At that, Stiles moved his hand over it and the warmth from his dad's blood started to touch him.

Barely a moment later, the veins in his hand started turning fingertips started turning black. Both Stiles and his father looked down to see it running through the length of his palm. Stiles began to feel the foreign but familiar sting from him siphoning pain. He soon began breathing a little harder and his eyes began to blink a little rapidly. When the black started to get passed his wrist and begin traveling up his arm, he started to feel the bile begin to rush up to his throat. But, Stiles didn't let up. Soon, it got to his head and he began to have clear mental images of Isaac, Coach, his father's deputy, Deaton and dozens of people in the hospital, all in pain and suffering. He then saw himself, a vicious expression on his face and a sword in his hand, readying to plunge it into his victim.

When Noah saw his son place his hand over his wound, he knew already what Stiles was going to do. He was going to pull some of his pain away. Stiles had told him about how he had done it for him back when he had been hit by that car after the mountain lion appeared at the school near two years ago. He'd never seen it done with his own eyes though. He suddenly began to feel a sudden wave of relief and he looked down to see that the veins in his son's hand were starting to turn black. But, he began to feel Stiles begin shaking and he looked up to see that his son's eyes were blinking so rapidly.

"Stiles?" Noah muttered softly. He didn't answer. He just kept pulling pain and a [blue glow was starting to shine through](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/5e/64/60/5e646056f36a00f59ed4fa016a49f7b0.jpg) his rapidly blinking eyes. He started to begin breathing hard and it seemed to get harder every second. Stiles also seemed to be paling a bit and it looked like he was going to be sick. "Stiles?" he tried again, but more nervously.

Noah knew that doing this caused a werewolf to feel a little pain but what seemed to be happening to Stiles was nothing little. It looked like his son was on the cusp of having a panic attack. He then tried to move his son's hand away but Stiles kept it there.

"Stiles, stop," he hissed at him. "Let go." He then grabbed Stiles' hand and yanked it down. He watched as the veins in his hand turned back to normal and the feeling of pain from his wound came back, though it was slightly less painful. His son didn't stop his shaking and his eyes were still blinking rapidly. Noah suddenly realized what this was. He'd seen it before, back with some guys he served with in his army days. Stiles' hand, stained with his blood, was still outstretched like he was still holding it to his wound. Noah moved to grasp it tightly, at his wrist. "Stiles," he hissed at him. "Breathe, son. Breathe. Focus on my heartbeat, just like you told me you did before. Breathe."

The pictures racing through Stiles' mind stop and he heard his father telling him to focus on his heartbeat. He blinked his glowing eyes one more time before shutting them eyes shut. "I-"

"Just listen to it son," his dad cut in, sternly. He knew this should work. He was his son's anchor after all. His first one.

Stiles coughed a bit and let his ears hone to the rhythm of his father's heart beating in his chest. The familiar thumping sound made Stiles' own heart settle and he found his breath slowing and settling down. After a few more seconds, he opened his eyes, slowly bringing himself to look his father in the face. His eyes were back to normal. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

But Noah shook his head. "You okay?" Stiles dropped his gaze and he deflated. "Stiles, it's alright, I'll heal." He then looked down and noticed the tear at the front of his son's shirt where he saw that there was dried blood from what he guessed was an already closed wound. "Maybe not as fast and well as you," he tried to throw in humorlessly. But he saw that Stiles seemed to still be struggling and his face fell back down again. "I'll be fine, don't worry. I already feel better."

Stiles moved to take a deep breath as he wiped some stressed tears that had welled at the side of his eyes and nodded.

The moment between the two was being watched by Theo. He saw what happened and his eyebrows rose a bit at it. It looked like he just found out something interesting and filed it away. It might be useful in the long run.

And Theo wasn't the only one to take notice of Stiles' reaction either.

Noah felt something tingling at the side of his head, which made him turn over to where the others were, next to Lydia. He focused on Theo, who started to bend down and begin to pull out his belt to wrap around and apply pressure to Lydia's wound. He watched the boy that Stiles suspected for a moment before he looked back at his son. As soon as his eyes left him, Theo spared another look back at the Stilinskis before he and Kira moved to help Lydia try and sit up.

Stiles eyes then zoned out onto where his father was off with Deputy Clark, her uniform darkened at her side from where she was bleeding. He took a step back but stopped when he felt his foot had stepped in something. He looked down to see that it was a spot of blood. His eyes went from the blood below his foot to his father's blood that was on his hand.

Deaton moved over to where there was a severed reptilian tail lying on the ground. "Scott," he hissed as he moved to get his jacket off to try and cover it up.

They managed to conceal it from sight just before Natalie Martin walked in. Her eyes fell on the floor, that was stained with blood before her eyes fell on the group of people standing over the body of her daughter. "No," she cried. "Lydia."

Lydia blinked as she looked up at her mother, who got right to her side, looking at her with shining eyes.

Scott looked out in the direction that Ms. Martin had come from and saw there a fresh scent of blood that seemed to be coming from the basement. "Stiles," he called out.

But Stiles didn't seem to hear Scott. As soon as her mother cried her name, [his gaze](https://66.media.tumblr.com/e5f7b84986a4d5e15d69dd58f42d24c3/tumblr_o2ko5j1oer1tbeggmo3_250.gif) had fallen on Lydia, rather to where there was a deep wound in her side, that was still bleeding and staining the floor and everyone else's hands with her blood. The scent from all of it was thick in the air as tears built in both Lydia and her mother's eyes as they gazed sadly at one another. The wound then made him remember another person that had been wounded in a similar way.

"Malia," he mumbled. She had left the clinic ahead of them, to go after Tracy. He let himself look around but didn't see any sign of her.

"Tracy," Lydia said in a small voice, teary eyed at him. She had heard him say her name. "She went after her."

Scott looked back when he started hearing the approaching sounds of ambulances approaching. They wouldn't have much time, they had to move fast, so he tried again. "Stiles!" That made Stiles finally break his gaze away to look at him. "Come on," he hissed at him before he ran off. Deaton moved to follow after him.

Stiles grit his teeth as he looked back at Lydia and everyone surrounding her.

Kira pulled her eyes away from Lydia to look up at him. "Lydia will be fine, Stiles. Go."

"Yeah, it's okay," Theo threw in. "She'll be alright."

After Noah saw that Clark was fine, he sent her to check on the other deputies before going over to grab his son's shoulder. "Come on son."

Stiles let himself be led out as the two of them followed after Scott and Deaton as they headed into the basement.

Scott practically jumped down to the bottom of the stairs as the scent of blood got stronger and he ran off until he found Malia. She was standing right over the body of Tracy. She turned around and quickly shook her head at the sight of the look on his face.

"It wasn't me," she said quickly.

Right behind Scott came Deaton and Stiles and his father were not too far behind. All their eyes were on Tracy, lying on the floor, a puddle of blood building next to her dead body.

"What the hell happened to her?" Noah hissed out.

"There were these people. There were…three of them." Malia was speaking fast and her eyes were a bit red. "I think they were three."

Stiles blinked at her. "What? What are you talking about?"

"They were strong Stiles!" she cried desperately at him. "They had some kind of weapon. Stiles, I didn't do this!"

Stiles quickly nodded and moved to reach for her to try and show that he believed her. "Okay." He then moved to take her into her arms to try and settle her down. She desperately squeezed him as they embraced.

"She's not changing back," Deaton called out to them from where he and Scott were crutched over Tracy's body. "We're going to need to get her out of here."

Stiles and Malia broke apart while Scott moved to straighten himself up. Yet, before they could do anything, the Sheriff stopped them.

"Whoa," Noah cut in, making them all freeze. "Absolutely not. This is a crime scene. We call the coroner."

"I think the coroner might be very confused by this girl's severed reptilian tail," Deaton threw in there.

"I don't care," Noah spat out.

"You should. Unless you're prepared to hold a press conference to announce the presence of supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills."

"Dad, he's right," Stiles said softly to him.

Noah then started to pace.

Scott sighed. "Maybe, at the clinic, we could figure out a way to change her back, then call the coroner?"

"There…there is a line," the man stammered out. "There is a line that we have to draw."

"Dad," Stiles cut in. "You've already crossed it. More than once."

Noah looked up at his son for a moment, hesitation still clear on his face.

"Sheriff, please," Deaton pleaded with him. "Let me help. I've dealt with things like this before."

After gritting his teeth, the Sheriff shook his head but visibly deflated. "Just do it fast," he conceded.

Deaton nodded before he and Scott moved to scoop Tracy's body up and carry it away. Malia slowly moved after them but Stiles stayed back. He was watching as his father looked down at the spot where Tracy's body had been before he sighed and began running his hand frustratingly across his face. Stiles then turned and followed after the others.

Noah didn't know how long he spent staring at he spot on the floor, but he had left the basement and returned back to the offices to find that everyone had gone. He passed by the front door and could make out Natalie looking downtrodden as they loaded her daughter into the back of the ambulance. He should call Melissa and tell them the kids were on their way. And call Malia's father too.

"Sheriff!" Noah looked over to see Clark running to him.

"Clark," he said, turning to face her. "You don't need to head to the hospital?"

"Sir, it's Donovan."

Noah tensed up. "What happened to him?"

"He's gone."

* * *

Jordan Parrish had just gotten home from his shift that day and he was letting himself rest on his couch. He saw his pack of playing cards nearby and decided to flip through them as he let his mind wander about to what was going on lately.

That whole mess with Tracy for starters. He couldn't help but feel a little responsible for what had happened. Jordan had been watching her after all. Something, he felt there must to have been something that he missed while checking her room or was watching over her. If he had picked up on it, then maybe he could've stopped what had happened. Sure, the logical part of him was telling him that he couldn't blame himself for everything that happened with that girl, but that didn't change the little sliver of blame he was feeling.

Then there was his situation with the Sheriff. Jordan still couldn't shake the feeling that Stilinski was still trying to hold out on him. Recently, his involvement in all this new stuff going on had either been accidental like when he had been attacked at that house because the Sheriff sent him to check that noise complaint; or had found its way to him like when Lydia asked for his help with Tracy. Despite Stiles telling him that his father wasn't mistrusting him, Jordan still felt that the Sheriff was going out of his way to try and distance him from everything. He just couldn't understand why.

He then flipped the next card in the deck and saw that it was a Queen of Diamonds. Jordan stopped and stared at the picture. He couldn't help but think that the picture on the card looked a lot like Lydia. He let out a small sigh as he just stared at the face which seemed to be staring right back at her. Jordan's mind seemed to go back to a memory of him and Lydia together the afternoon before the full moon.

_Jordan and Lydia were alone at the station, looking at pages of lore about supernatural creatures, trying to find anything to help identify what he was. Lydia suddenly sighed out of nowhere and went to grab the nearby lighter on the desk. She started to turn it on and off, every other second, drawing his attention to her. It was clear to him that she was feeling a little bored._

_"You going to do a magic trick?" he asked her._

_She stopped and looked right at him. "No, but you are."_

_"I only know one trick and it's with a playing card."_

_"Well, this one involves a lighter and your hand."_

_"That sounds less like a magic trick and more like assault," he playfully threw in there._

_"Hey, you did it before, remember?" she reminded him. "That's how you were able to find Argent in those water tunnels."_

_Jordan remembered. "Yeah, I guess, technically, that makes it a magic trick. Though, I'm kind of tentative with the idea of deliberately burning myself to help me better understand what I am."_

_"Still, holding your hand over a lighter is not as bad as being lit on fire, trapped in a deputy sheriff's car. Which, I'll remind you, you walked away from unscathed."_

_He shrugged. "Not entirely. I had to pay for the uniform."_

_They took a moment to smile amusingly at each other before Lydia's face fell back down._

_"Give me your hand," she said, before igniting the lighter._

_He stared for a second before putting his hand out to hover over the flame. He had it a couple of inches over the little flame before Lydia moved to raise it closer to palm. The fire began licking his skin and a moment later, he pulled his hand away._

_"Son of a-" he hissed out, but still had an amused smile on his face._

_"You can last a lot longer than that," Lydia smirked. "I want to try something different." She then moved to caress his hand, making him freeze up and look straight up into her eyes. "Don't think about the flame." She then unfolded his hand. "Don't think about the heat." Jordan's eyes then moved down to follow the movement of her lips. "Don't think about it hurting." Lydia raised his hand up, gently running her fingers along it, making him straighten it back up. "Don't even look at it."_

_He nodded, not letting his eyes leave her. "Okay."_

_Jordan then let his eyes latch back on to hers as she stared right back at his. Not turning their gaze from each other, Lydia moved the lighter back underneath the palm of his hand, and lit it back up. The fire started to run along the skin of his palm, but Jordan didn't look away from Lydia's bright eyes. Smoke was starting to build around Jordan's hand but neither of them seemed to notice. They just kept staring at each other, eyes never leaving one another, and both not even breathing to distract them from staring. Lydia's eyes sharpened a bit as she saw that Jordan's pupils were dilating, like his eyes were glazing._

_Suddenly Lydia pulled away. "Ow," she gasped._

_Jordan jumped, blinking his eyes. "Are you okay?" he quickly asked._

_"My thumb was too close to the flame," she told him, blowing a bit on it. "I'm okay. What about you?"_

_Jordan looked down at his hand to see that the spot where the flame had been in his palm had been covered in ash. He rubbed it away and saw that he didn't have a single scratch. "Whoa," he muttered to himself._

_Lydia saw it too. "Did it hurt?" Jordan shook his head. "When you were staring at me, your eyes kind of…drifted. What were you thinking about?"_

_He settled back a bit as he thought back to a moment ago. "A dream," he muttered._

_"What dream?"_

_"I've had it here and there for the last six months. I'm walking into the woods, carrying a body. But it's completely burned. I can't see who it is, or who it was."_

_"Where are you taking it?"_

_"A clearing. There's a huge tree right in the middle of it. You'd think it was 1000 years old. It's real old but it's been cut down."_

_Lydia sighed. She knew what he was talking about. "It's real. It's a real tree, in a real part of Beacon Hills. It…used the be the center of a grove a trees called a Nemeton."_

_"What's a nemeton?"_

" _A sacred meeting place for Celtic Druids. They were scientists and healers thousands of years ago."_  'Ones that didn't end up going psycho,'  _she silently added, as memories of Jennifer Blake came back._

_"I've never seen this place."_

_"But that's why you're here. It drew you here. That's what it does. It's a beacon for supernatural creatures. It might even make them more powerful."_

_"Powerful?" he asked._

_Seeing as how her friends and even some of their enemies had been around that thing, she didn't doubt it. "What else happens?"_

_He blinked before standing up to look out at the far corner of the room. He took a moment to think before turning back to her. "I put the body down, I lay it down on the rings of the trees and-"_

_"What?"_

_Jordan blinked as he saw himself standing over the body before laying it down. His body erupted into flames as he settled the body on the ground, next to another one. He then sat down on the stump as he looked off to gaze at the clearing, filled with bodies. The flames from his body then began to spread out,[engulfing the whole field in flames](http://pa1.narvii.com/6278/3d7ab0f24f83067b571566bbd90084c448c7cffc_00.gif)._

_"Nothing," he said. "That's it. That's the end of the dream."_

His mind was back in his home, looking at the playing card. He flipped it around to reveal that the face now had a scorch mark on it. He then flipped it back again and the mark disappeared. He then let himself reveal the secret to the trick. Two different cards of the same suit, one with the mark and one without it.

He was pulled out of his trance by the ringing of his phone. His eyes widened at the caller's id.

"Stiles," he answered. "What's up?"

* * *

In his apartment, Virgil was hitting a hanging punching bag with a set of black boxing mittens on his hands. He was breathing heavily as he struck at the bag, again and again. He kept going until he heard a notification ping from his phone.

"Whoa," he panted as he wiped off some of the sweat that gathered at his brow.

He went for his phone to see that there had been a local news alert. It looked like there had been some kind of attack at the station. Apparently, a girl had been rushed to the ICU at Beacon Memorial because it looked like she had been deeply stabbed and poisoned. An alert had been put out for a guy named Donovan Donati, who had escaped from the station and it said he was a suspect for what had happened, as he had escaped from his transport that left two guards hurt and a third man dead.

"Another attack at that station?" Virgil mumbled to himself.

He knew about that incident with that kid from school, Matt Daehler, almost two years ago. One of those guys he met at the alley had talked about it. Virgil also remembered that, the night Beacon Memorial had been attacked by men in black with swords, they had been spotted at the station as well. This now makes it the third time in the last two years.

That couldn't be a coincidence.

* * *

Lydia was slowly blinking under the lights as she was being wheeled through the hospital hallway on a gurney, with her mother at her side, tightly clutching her hand.

"You're going to be okay sweetheart," she cried at her.

"Mom," Lydia muttered weakly. "You, you can't say anything about what you saw."

She had seen her mother come in, right when Tracy had started attacking Kira. She must've seen Tracy with her claws and tail visible, as well as Kira using her sword and surrounded by foxfire. They couldn't afford to have her mother say anything.

Natalie tensed up. "All I saw…was some lunatic girl trying to kill everyone. You're going to be fine."

Lydia guessed that her mother was either in shock or was trying to live in denial. Either way, she had to make sure that her mom didn't say anything. "You can't say anything mom. You just can't."

Her mother's eyes started to light up a bit. "You're going to be fine," she repeated.

Following not too far away were Malia, Kira and Theo. They were soon stopped and told that they couldn't go any further and had to wait. Stiles came up to them a few moments later.

"Sorry guys, I had to make a call," he told them.

"Who were you calling?" Kira asked him.

"Parrish," he told her. He had stepped away a bit to tell the deputy what had happened to Lydia. He knew that the guy would want to be here.

"Lydia's mom is freaking out," said Theo.

"Her daughter was attacked by a girl with a lizard tail right in front of her," said Kira. She then turned to Stiles. "Do you think she'll say anything?"

"That's not what I'm worried about right now. Malia, tell me what happened down there."

"I told you already," she said to him.

"I know, I know," he told her quickly. "But, just walk me through it, step by step."

Malia breathed in deeply and then let it out. "Okay," she sighed. "I went after Tracy and found her with Lydia's mom. We fought a bit and I managed to pin her down. I had her, but then it looked like she was starting to get confused. I thought she was waking up from her night terror so I let her go and tried to talk to her. She asked me what was happening and I tried to tell her, but then she…"

"She what?" Stiles asked in concern.

Malia just stared at him. A haunted look came over her and she looked away.

"She tried to kill you," Theo mumbled, answering for her. "Didn't she?"

Malia looked over at him. His eyes were staring directly into hers and she found her nerves deflating a bit and she ended up nodding.

"What?" said Kira. "Wait, she didn't snap out of her night terror?"

"No," Stiles nodded. "Tracy was never in a night terror. The attacks at the transport, the hospital and at the station; she was awake for every one of them. She knew what she was doing the whole time." A dark look started coming over him as he clenched his hand into a tight fist at his side. Something that both Malia and Theo noticed.

"How'd you get away?" Kira asked her.

"Those guys, in the masks," Malia continued in a somewhat small voice. "They grabbed Tracy and killed her by sticking some kind of needle thing in her neck."

"How many of them were there?" Kira then asked.

"Three. And, I heard one of them say something. Something about her condition. It was...terminal? What does that mean?"

The others seemed as stumped as her, though Theo secretly knew what it was about.

Just walking into the hospital were Scott and Liam. Scott had helped get Tracy into Deaton's car and taken her to the clinic before he quickly headed out for the hospital. He had bumped into Liam at the front, who had been dropped off by Brett and Lori. He quickly started telling Scott what he and the others had found.

"Tracy was buried?" he gasped.

Liam nodded. "In a hole. Buried alive and crawled out. Then we found another hole."

More? Scott's eyes widened at the idea of another person like Tracy. "Who was buried in that one?"

Liam shook his head. "I don't know but I think we're gonna want to find out."

They made it to the ICU level in time to see his mother heading for the others.

"Scott," she said when she caught sight of them. [She then took in the sight that they all were in.](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images-new/48896/tw_504_header__span.jpg) The tears in Scott, Stiles, Malia and Kira's clothes. Stiles had dried blood visible through his tear at the front. "Are you all alright? Scott? Stiles?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Scott told her gently. "We're okay."

"Not all of us," Stiles cut in. He made sure to give Scott a pointed look at that.

Scott almost take a step back in recoil. Stiles seemed to be mad at him so suddenly. Scott was about to ask what was wrong but Stiles had moved on to talk with his mother.

"How bad is it?" he asked her.

"Could have been worse," she sighed. "Theo, nice going on that tourniquet. You probably saved her life."

Theo just stared blankly back at her. He kept his gaze on her, feeling that Stiles was watching him, though he tried to act like he didn't notice. He had to be careful and not let any emotion slip out and be detected. Stiles' senses seemed to be on high right now. And it seemed he wasn't the only one. He could make out Liam also staring at him a bit hard at him from the corner of his eye. No doubt following Stiles' lead with his suspicions of him.

Scott noticed the look Stiles was giving the guy and stepped in. "Thanks Theo," he said in appreciation. Theo answered him a slight nod. He then sent Stiles a look of his own.

Stiles sighed and gave a sharp, curt nod. "Yeah," he said curtly.

Scott guessed that was as good as he was going to get right now and then turned back to his mother. "Mom, what's going to happen?"

"Well, we're prepping her for surgery right now. Are there any other supernatural details that I should know or do we just stitch her up and hope for the best?"

"It was the tail," Kira said to her. "Tracy got her with her tail, if that helps any."

Melissa sighed and nodded. "Okay," she said nervously before she took off.

"But it's not just Tracy anymore," Malia put out. "There's those guys, in the masks."

"Liam found out that Tracy was buried."

"Buried?" Kira mumbled.

"And, there was more than one hole," Liam finished.

Stiles narrowed his eyes. "So, there's more than one of them."

"Of what?" asked Liam. "What are they?"

They all just stood there silently. That was a very good question.

Lydia was in the operating room, with the surgeons around her getting the equipment ready for her operation.

"Okay Lydia," the head surgeon said through his mask. "I'm going to need you to relax and start counting backwards from ten, okay?"

She lightly nodded and then began slowly counting backwards as they started to give her some anesthesia to get her ready.

"Ten," she started. "Nine."

As Lydia began counting down, her senses began getting blurred from the drugs. The surgeon had her back to her but as he turned around, Lydia saw someone in a metal mask leering down at her. All the other doctors were in masks.

"Keep counting," The Surgeon said to her in a muffled metallic voice.

And Lydia did, before everything went dark.

* * *

Donovan was slowly coming too but quickly found himself strapped and restrained on a table. He tried to break free but he was quickly approached by the three he found in. They were surrounding him and looking down on him through their metal masks and Donovan started to freak out.

"What the hell are you doing?" he cried out at them.

They didn't answer. They just continued looking down at him, restrained him, before they began moving for some equipment nearby.

The Surgeon moved on in and grasped him by his cheeks in order to expose Donovan's teeth. He then turned to the other two. "His condition looks promising."

Donovan blinked. "What? What does that mean?" he gasped.

The doctors ignored him and continued with their work. The Pathologist went and grabbed a pair of thick pliers and the Geneticist moved to force Donovan to open his mouth. He shouted and tried to resist but his head was held on tight. The pliers soon went into his mouth and one of his teeth was violently yanked out of him. It fell to the floor as Donovan let out a muffled scream through his squeezed lips. One after the other, his teeth kept getting yanked out with spots of blood spewing out more and more with each passing one. Donovan's screams got louder as it kept going on until his last tooth was yanked out.

After that, his mouth was let go but Donovan still felt great pain. He felt pressure at his gums and screamed more as two sets of razor sharp, bloodstained, [flesh tearing teeth](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/teenwolf/images/4/4b/Teen_Wolf_Season_5_Episode_4_Condition_Terminal_Donovan_new_teeth_.png/revision/latest?cb=20150714033936) grew in place of his old ones.

* * *

Scott and Kira were walking into his house together silently and solemnly. His mother had told all of them that it looked like Lydia's surgery had gone through with no problems and she would make a full recovery. Parrish had arrived and told all of them that they should go home and that he would stay and watch over Lydia.

As Kira walked in, she looked down at her hands, still stained with Lydia's blood. Because she couldn't stop Tracy from hurting Lydia and nearly killing Malia too. Scott reached over and grasped them, squeezing them comfortingly before they moved to stare at each other. As they did, the two of them leaned in and started to let their foreheads connect and their noses graze against each other's. The pressure of the day seemed to be catching up to them. By impulse, the two of them brought their lips together for a deep kiss, each seeking comfort in the other. Looking to feel something other than despair and tension. Scott felt his heart start to lighten a bit as he started to move his hand to cup Kira's cheek.

"Sorry to interrupt," they heard suddenly. They broke apart to find Deaton walking in. He set a bag on the table and then pulled out a jar that contained the talons from the werewolf that attacked them at the school. "A werewolf with the talons of an eagle. Possibly a shapeshifter known in eastern mythology as a Garuda." He then brought out another jar. "Tracy's claws, the unmistakable claws of a werewolf but…" He then pulled out a jar containing a piece of her tail. "A werewolf who also possesses the venom and scales of a kanima."

"What do you even call that?" Kira asked.

"Personally, I call it terrifying. But, at the moment, I'm more concerned with how Tracy was able to get across the mountain ash."

"I thought nothing supernatural can do that."

"Baring a few rare exceptions, as did I," he said, casting Scott a look. "So if Tracy was able to cross the mountain ash, and no one supernatural can do that."

"Tracy's not a supernatural," Scott finished.

"Exactly. If she wasn't born and she wasn't bitten, she had to have been made."

"Made?" gasped Kira.

"Someone is trying to  _make_  supernatural creatures with non-supernatural means. And whoever they are, they're somehow managing to blur the lines between science and the supernatural."

Scott blinked before he thought of something. "But there's more. Liam said that he found another hole out in the woods."

"Burying them could be part of their process, a kind of incubation."

Kira was starting to get scared. The werewolf at the school and Tracy had come dangerously close to killing her friends. If there were more of them coming, she didn't want to think of what would happen. "What are we supposed to do?"

"What you've always done. Protect your friends. Protect each other."

Scott blinked. "What about someone like Tracy?" The people who were being taken and then turned into these…things. What about them?

Deaton sighed and shook his head. "I wish I could tell you. Hopefully, I'll have more answers soon. I'll be gone a few days."

Scott widened his eyes. "You're leaving?" Deaton couldn't leave them, not now.

"Just a few days," he quickly told him.

Kira let her eyes fall on the bottles with the claws and scales from these new…things. Who knew what the next ones would have on them? "How scared should we be?"

He cast a look upon them as well. It was plain to both Scott and Kira that he was scared himself, but was trying to not show just how scared he was. "I've lived in the world of the supernatural for a long time, but I'm still a doctor. Still a man of science. Something like this happens…it rattles the foundation of everything you believe. Something like this shakes you to the core."

"Something like what?"

"The rules. The rules have changed."

Kira had her answer. They should be  _very_  scared.

* * *

After Parrish had sent them away, Stiles and Malia went back to his house and were [in front of the his mystery board.](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/teenwolf/images/4/41/Teen_Wolf_Season_5_Episode_4_Condition_Terminal_Stiles_and_Malia_Infront_of_Mystery_Board.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150714182946) Stiles started to add things to it like Tracy's name, as well as put a note of the three in masks. Malia however was looking at where Stiles had the question 'Who is the Desert Wolf' circled. Just that morning, Stiles had given her the first real lead into her. She had been prepared to pursue it but, after tonight, finding her mother didn't feel as important now. She looked over at Stiles and saw that he was trying to find room to fit the new things that they learned tonight but was lacking room. She reached for the eraser and cleaned out the part of her mother. When Stiles saw what she did, he put the pen down and reached over to pull her into a hug. Stiles held her tightly, just as tightly as she was holding him. Malia found some sniffles from her nose as she took in Stiles' scent as they kept hugging. Stiles picked his head up and moved to kiss her on the top of her head before letting his forehead rest against hers. This night was starting to catch up with them.

There was a beeping coming from Malia's phone and she reluctantly broke away to bring it out and see that she got a text. "It's my dad. He wants me to come home."

Stiles guessed that his dad called her dad and told him about what happened at the station. He nodded. "I'll take you."

Soon enough, they were in his jeep and were pulling up in front of the Tate House. Henry Tate was standing there in wait and the two of them could immediately smell his worry and concern. Malia almost leapt out of the car as she ran into her father's waiting arms. Stiles watched them both sadly for a bit as they just embraced. Henry then started to pull apart from her and Stiles heard a 'Thank You' coming from him with his hearing and he nodded back to the man. The two of them then headed into the house and Stiles let a deep, winded breath loose.

When he pulled the jeep away, he hadn't headed back home. Stiles had driven off for a deep part of the woods and had then run off into the trees. There was no destination in his mind, he didn't care where he was going or where he ended up. He just needed to run, to burn out his anger. Needless to say he was enraged from everything that had happened today. From him not being able to help his father to nearly losing both Malia and Lydia. He was full of rage. Rage at Tracy. Rage at himself. Rage at Scott. Just then, Stiles saw a downed log up ahead and he moved to leap over it, landing about thirty feet away on all fours before he continued sprinting off.

A shape suddenly jumped out from the trees and Stiles was barely able to stop before it could collide with him. The figure growled at him, and Stiles growled right back. Right now, he didn't expect a fight but he wouldn't turn one down right now. It seemed the other guy wanted one to because he charged for him. Stiles quickly caught the guy's attempt to claw at him, when he got a good look at the guy's face, illuminated by the partial moonlight and his eyes widened.

"Wilson?!" Stiles sputtered.

Wilson Grant's eyes widened in surprise. "Stiles?!" he panted back. He then pulled himself back and free from Stiles as he started to try and settle his breathing back down. "What the hell are you doing all the way out here at this time of night?!"

"I could ask you the same question!" he huffed out indignantly.

The two of them were soon sitting off the edge of a cliff, overlooking the lights of the town, as they began to talk once they'd settled down.

"Brett and Lori called me about what had happened," he told him lightly. "How they found those holes out in the woods and then I saw the news about the attack at the Sheriff's station. That's why I decided to come out here. I figured that if whatever came in and destroyed our pack's marker is behind that the girl and that werewolf with talons, then they or their other freaks might be roaming around here so I wanted to try and track them down."

Stiles nodded as he let himself draw spirals going left then right in the dirt, watching the town's lights in the distance. "So, you decided to just up and attack any poor bastard you come across as you search?" he asked, condescendingly.

Wilson narrowed his eyes, annoyed but quickly shook it away. "About a half hour ago, I caught someone lurking around in the woods near Satomi's house. I called out at them and they immediately took off, and they were fast."

"A spy?"

"That would be my guess. I chased them to around here. I then felt something moving through the trees, fast."

"So you thought I was the one you were after," Stiles finished for him. "But, didn't you pick up my scent?"

Wilson's eyes hardened a bit. "Stiles, I couldn't pick up your scent because it was being overpowered."

Stiles leaned back a bit. "Overpowered?"

"By rage. A lot of it. So much that I couldn't read your scent. That's why I was ready for a fight." Stiles then looked away from him. "Stiles, what's wrong?" Stiles just stared out into the lights, silently. "You know, over these last couple of months, I've noticed an interesting difference between you and Liam." Stiles gave him a sidelook. One that Wilson easily interpreted. "Your anger," he answered. "Liam has trouble controlling his anger and he can feel it in extreme and uncontrollable levels. But, it's all in the moment. It comes quickly and goes almost as fast because he lets it out. With you Stiles, your anger is gradual and you have a good deal of control over it. Too much control. You tend to push it down and you just add more anger to it, little by little over time. It builds and starts to burn you up from the inside. If you keep holding it in and don't let any of it out then eventually you'll explode. And from what I felt earlier, you are close to going nuclear. You need help."

Stiles tightened his jaw and moved his eyes away to keep him from looking at Wilson. "No one can help me," he said almost to himself.

Wilson settled back a bit and he looked out at their shared view. "Maybe I can help," he said after a moment. "I can be an impartial listener, ask anyone. Besides, who might understand better than a fellow Second?"

That made Stiles break composure and look at him. Stiles stared at Wilson's calm face and he sighed. Soon, Stiles started speaking, and when he did, he found he couldn't stop. He talked about everything that had happened since Senior Scribe. The werewolf with talons' attack, his ignored suspicions about Theo, him unable to handle pulling pain from his father, and everything that happened with Tracy. All of it coupled with his worries about his life with his friends after high school and his increased number of sleepless nights. When Stiles was finished, he found himself breathing hard and was wiping some tears that had swelled up in the corners of his eyes. During the whole thing, Wilson didn't say a word. He just sat there and let Stiles talk. Only once Stiles started to settle back down did he speak.

"Whoa...that's quite buckload of crap you're pushing." That made Stiles let out a cross between a laugh and a cough. But Wilson's face fell a bit as he let himself become serious. "First, let me just say that you're probably being too hard on yourself. I know about what you went through last year and you can't expect yourself to just bounce back. Hell, I'd say it's a miracle you're at where you are now. Be more patient with yourself Stiles. We might be werewolves, but we're still only human."

Stiles let his gaze drop a bit at that. Wilson kept going.

"As for what happened today. I can see how that might make you angry at not only her, but with Scott as well. He's not wrong to show compassion for these people."

"Yeah," Stiles cut in. "But Scott seems more upset about happened to Tracy then what happened to Lydia or Malia. He told Malia to save Tracy and nothing about being careful. She was almost killed because she listened-

Wilson quickly held his palm up. "You didn't let me finish," he abruptly said to him. "While Scott's not wrong to show them compassion, he has to be careful to not give out more than he's keeping for his own pack. Saving people like Tracy is a noble and honorable thing, but not if it comes at the expense of his friends." Now it was Wilson who was dropping his gaze. "He's an Alpha, and an Alpha's priority and concern should be to the pack first. To their loved ones, their territory and those in their charge. Everything else comes second."

"Is it that way with Satomi?" Stiles asked him lightly.

A far off expression came over Wilson. "Satomi cares about people and she tries to have us lead good and peaceful lives. She uses buddhism to help us hone ourselves in and do that. But, that doesn't mean she's a pacifist. If someone tries to hurt her or any of her betas, if that's what it takes she will show no mercy. At her core, she's a warrior and I have the greatest respect for her. You know, most samurai were buddhists too and they are among the most greatest and feared warriors of all time. Words and open arms can only go so far, and I've seen times where that wasn't too far at all. After all, what good is making peace if you don't fight to keep it?"

"Not much I guess," mumbled Stiles.

Wilson shook his head in agreement. "How are you feeling now?"

Stiles blinked a bit before he shrugged. "A little bit better, I guess. Thanks Wilson."

He nodded. Stiles started to move to get back up but Wilson stopped him.

"One last thing, this Theo kid you told me about. I don't think you're wrong to be suspicious of him."

"Yeah?"

Wilson narrowed his eyes. "Based on what you said, there are things about him that don't add up. Little things. Like, his story about coming here. There's already some issues with that. First off, his parents. They take him and leave this town to deal with the death of his sister, but they move back because he wants to be in Scott's pack. Do they even know about him? And even if they did, would they really be willing to just drop everything in their lives and come right back here? Where were they before they came back to Beacon Hills anyway?"

"Uh, I think it was around Detroit."

"And they moved halfway across the country just so Theo could have a chance to be in Scott's pack? Then there's the issue of his control. He claims the alpha who turned him was killed before he could bring him into his pack, yet he seems to have seasoned control over his abilities and himself? How did he get so good? Also, you accuse him of lying and having imposters for parents, right after he leaves flowers for his sister at that, but he just smiles and jokes around about it? How could someone, a teenager no less, not get upset? Unless, they were trying to hide something. Honestly, I can go on about a dozen other things I see off about this kid."

Stiles had a wide smile creeping on his face. It seemed that there was someone ready to believe him about Theo without him having to try so hard. "So, what do think I should do?"

"My advice, focus on the little things. His parents, names, places, hobbies, memories, things like that. Call him out on them, as often as they come up. He might be able to talk his way out of them but, if he's guilty, he won't be able to keep it up forever. Having to answer on the spot each time, a liar won't be able to constantly keep track, his stories and explanations will start to cross or contradict each other so file each one of them away. Eventually, they'll slip and you can catch them."

Stiles eyebrows rose. "That's not bad."

"Hey, it works when I'm dealing with the teenagers I catch trying to sneak around and make trouble at work." Wilson then looked down at his watch. "Alright, that's enough for tonight. It's a school night and you're out way too late as it is."

Stiles then grunted as he pulled himself to his feet. "And you? Technically it's a school night for you too." He was a security guard at a school.

He shrugged. "I got the afternoon shift. I can sleep in a little longer than you. But you, you need all the sleep you can get. Sleep can help out with your anger too and not getting enough will help burn you out."

As they started to head off, they were being unknowingly watched and spied on from a distance by Courtney. It had been her that Wilson had been pursuing but had been thrown off with Stiles' arrival. She stayed back and had listened in on everything they had talked about. As she rubbed her long and razor sharp needle claws together, she waited until they were far enough away so she could move without being detected. She had to get to Theo and warn him about these two.

* * *

Lydia was starting to open her eyes and she found herself lying on a bed, though she quickly felt she wasn't in her room. She then saw it was a hospital room and the events of the station quickly came back to her. She turned around and saw the sun peeking through the nearby window. She tried to get up, but found she didn't have the strength. She also noticed some sound, and turned to see a tv was on. At the foot of her bed was Jordan and when she started to move, he turned around to look at her.

"What are you doing here?"

He smiled gently at her. "Officially, I'm here to gather an eyewitness testimony. Unofficially, I'm trying to find something to watch but the only thing that comes in is this kung fu movie," he smiled a bit deeper at her. "You like kung fu movies?"

She let herself relax a bit. "How long have you been here?"

"Stiles called me after you were brought in here. I've been in here since you were cleared out of surgery."

"All night?" she mumbled.

He nodded. "Cleared it with my Sheriff. Witness protection detail."

"Protection," she mumbled almost to herself. She let herself look around the room and realized that this was the second time in two years that she'd been sent to the hospital. Her eyes then went up to the fighting on the screen. "You know how to do that?" She knew that Jordan had been in the military before coming to Beacon Hills.

He nodded. "I know a little Jiu-Jitsu. In the army they taught us CQC, Close Quarters Combat."

"Can you teach me?"

He was taken aback. "You want to learn Jiu-Jitsu? Hand to Hand?"

"I want to learn how to fight." Lately, it seemed that she was the only one among her friends that wasn't. All of them, Scott, Stiles, Kira, Malia, Liam, Jordan…they all were fighting to keep themselves and others safe. Keeping her safe. Last night, she could only stand around while Kira fought to protect them. All she seemed to do was scream or take them head first into death. She was tired of having to stand back while everyone around her fought. "No, I _need_ to learn." she said assuredly.

Jordan could see the determination swelling up in her eyes. He didn't know how but he could read perfectly well what was going on in her mind. She wanted to protect herself, help protect others, instead of letting herself be protected all the time. He nodded his head. "Yeah…I can teach you." His lips curved to smile a bit.

She smiled lightly back at him.

* * *

Scott was sitting with Kira in AP Biology, trying hard not to stare at Lydia's empty seat and dwell on the fact that she was still lying in the hospital. As everyone was copying down the notes that were being placed on the board, Scott was making a list of all the strange aspects found in each of these new shapeshifters, trying to find some way to make sense of them all. A werewolf with harpy eagle talons and a werewolf with a kanima's venom and tail. Not only that, but it seemed that Tracy was immune to mountain ash, which means that others like her were too. But, what were they?

"If 99.9% of our DNA sequence is the same as other humans, what could account for the missing 0.1% difference?" their teacher, Ms. Ramsey, asked out to the class after finishing the last of her notes. She looked out to the room before choosing her student when no one was raising their hand. "Theo?"

Theo looked up from his book. "Um, nucleotides."

"That's right," she said approvingly.

Kira let her eyes fall on the list that Scott was making and she had a hunch about how they could find a connection. She raised her hand.

"Yes Kira?" Ms. Ramsey asked.

"Can there be more than one species in the same DNA?"

"No, but there can be multiple sets of DNA in the same individual. We call that a Chimera. Anyone know where that term comes from?" she asked the room at large. "Sydney," she said to the student that raised her hand.

"Greek Mythology. It's a lion with a goat coming out of its back and a tail that has the head of a snake."

"That's right Sydney. Do you want to read us the full Wikipedia entry off your phone?" she said disapprovingly, as she stared at the phone in her hand. Sydney's face fell and she put her phone away.

At that, Scott wrote that term down. Chimera. Multiple sets of animal features within the same shapeshifter. It seemed as these things now had a name.

Ms. Ramsey continued. "But, that does get us into the next topic of mutation. As you know from the reading, DNA is a fragile molecule. Isn't it Scott?" That made Scott finally pull his head out from his notebook to face her. "Or did you miss last nights assigned reading?" she asked, her expression and tone a mix of disapproving and scolding.

"Kind of," he mumbled.

"Kind of, or yes?" she said, in the same tone.

"Mostly yes," he said, nodding his head down a bit. With everything that happened yesterday, he had put not just the reading, but all of his school work out of his mind.

"Well, thank you for yet another helpful transition in topic." She stared at him for a moment before she moved to her desk and pick up a small stack of papers. "Drop forms," she said, holding them up for everyone to see. "All those now acutely aware that they do not belong in this class, you should fill one out." She then went off to two different students, ones she felt were lost causes, and placed one right in front of them before heading back up to the front. "The rest will be on my desk." She then slammed them on there before the bell rang.

Everyone started to get up and pack their stuff. Kira and Theo were already heading out the door but Scott hung back. He was looking at the stack of drop forms. He stared at them for a second before he reached for one. It's only been two weeks and he was already missing out on doing readings and feeling lost with more than half the course work. With everything going on, it'll be a miracle if he caught up, let alone score high final marks. And it'll no doubt get worse. He sighed at the thought. Maybe he didn't belong in this class after all. He then felt a tingle and looked over to see that Ms. Ramsey was looking right at him with that same disapproving look as before. He quickly threw the form in his bag and then left the room to see that both Kira and Theo were waiting for him.

"It's a Chimera," he said to them.

Ramsey had watched as Scott headed out and sighed before shaking her head in disappointment. She reached over to grab her cell phone. She began sending a text, saying that they needed to talk after school, about Scott.

* * *

At the station, Noah was with Deputy Clark, watching the security footage of the holding cells. Donovan was acting frantic before he seemed to freeze up in the camera's direction, then there was static and the picture went gray.

"Wait for it," Clark said as they kept staring.

A few frames later, the picture cleared up, but the cell was empty.

"Well, that's a pretty convenient time for a camera malfunction," he said dryly.

"Very," Clark said before she closed the laptop and then started to walk off.

But Noah stopped her. "Hey, isn't it your day off?"

Clark turned to look back at him. "I stood there, listening to that kid threaten your life. In front of your own son. I'm not taking time off until he's caught."

Noah both admired and appreciated Clark's loyalty. If he wasn't mistaken, she had a younger sister who went to Beacon Hills High along with his son. He remembered when she first transferred to his department over a year ago. She seemed to always linger in the background but had really stepped up in the last six months, ever since Haigh had tried to kill Parrish.

But he didn't think Donovan was the threat right now. Not with these strange werewolves with long talons and serpent tails popping up.

He just sighed. "Look, wherever Donovan is, I'm pretty sure that he's running as far away as possible, as fast as he can. I'll be fine, don't worry. Now go, get out of here."

"Sheriff." Clark nodded before she left the Sheriff's office.

Noah sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He wished he could believe what he just told Clark, he really did.

* * *

Donovan was stuck in that chair, still strapped and bound by his wrists and head. His lips and shirt still stained with blood as his teeth still felt sharp under his tongue. Off to the side stood Theo, watching him. It was a shame that Tracy was taken out when she was. Her being part Kanima, he still could've used that but it wasn't his call to make. It didn't matter though, in the end, she did what he needed her to do. Her actions had not only made an opening for Scott to start letting him in, but had also made his mother and girlfriend start trusting him. Lydia would likely also start trusting him since he did help save her life. That was half of his pack right there.

The other half of the pack though, still were an issue for him. Tracy's attack hadn't distracted or dampen Stiles' instincts to distrust him. He was still watching him as closely as ever and Theo had to stay on his toes and not give Stiles an inch. Malia and Liam, they were leaning towards Stiles' side, with Malia keeping her distance around him and Liam sharing a bit in Stiles' distrust of him. Not only that, but it seemed that his father, the Sheriff, was starting to get a little wary of him, if his look back at the station was anything to go by. And, from what Courtney had just told him, Stiles was getting yet another werewolf to stick his nose in on his business. A Second from another pack at that. This couldn't go on. If Theo's plan was to work, he would have to have Stiles...dealt with. That was where Donovan could come in. A guy who was part werewolf, part wendigo, with a strong grudge against the Sheriff, he could be just what he needs.

Suddenly, Donovan stopped wriggling in the chair and seemed to be trying to look out, like he knew he wasn't alone. Theo rose his eyebrows appreciatively. He hadn't given any obvious signs but it looked like Donovan was quickly starting to adapt to his new hyper senses after being made into a Chimera. Chimera…that was what Scott decided to call them. Theo had to admit, he kind of liked the name. It was far better than being referred to as 'subjects' by the Doctors.

Theo decided to make himself known and started walking to him. "You're lucky they're letting me talk to you. They normally don't do that. They're not giving me much time either. See…these guys, they believe in numbers. And their results. They weigh the pros and cons and decided pretty quick-"

"Decide what?" Donovan spat in.

"Whether or not you die." He got square in Donovan's line of sight and held up the folder he was holding. "By the way, this is your psych evaluation for when you applied to be a sheriff's deputy." He then started to read it aloud. "Multiphasic Personality Inventory. You know what that is?" Donovan answered by trying to pull harder against his restraints. Theo smirked at him. "It's a test, that assesses abnormal behavior. It's supposed to be able to tell when you're lying or being defensive…or if you're a total psycho."

"Shut up," Donovan growled, full on glaring at him.

But Theo didn't lose his smug poise. "Your results were pretty disappointing Donovan. You scored high on the Psychopathic Deviate scale." Donovan tried again to break free from the restraints and Theo smiled and amusingly smacked the folder against his chest. "And that, that's bad. I'm not even going to get into your Anger Expression Inventory. Just this one, small, part here at the end. 'Not Suitable For Law Enforcement'." He then smirked at Donovan's pissed off look and tossed the file away. "Then to top it all off, Stilinski sends you to prison for 3-5 and no doubt will get you more since you've escaped police custody, twice. That's gotta suck, right?"

Donovan tried to yank himself free again, to no avail. "Let me go," he hissed heatedly.

Theo leans in close to him and lets his head go from the strap but keeps the rest of him still bound. "You know, you've actually been given a real gift here Donovan. You've been made stronger, faster, and..." He then reached over for a small mirror and held it up for Donovan to see his new fangs. "You can rip people apart with those new pearly whites of yours." He then watched as Donovan's eyes sparked up at the sight of them. With an idea to match. "Now, I already know what you're thinking. You want to go and find Stilinski. Use your newfound gifts and tear him to pieces and have your revenge, am I right?" Donovan didn't say anything but him catching Theo's eye was answer enough. "I get it, but you see, that would be a waste. The thing about physical pain Donovan, as much as it hurts, over time it fades. But emotional pain, that's the kind that lasts. You want to cause Stilinski everlasting pain, then you don't go after him. You go after who he loves. The most important person in his life.

"Stiles," said Donovan after a moment, his fangs grinding against each other at the end. The smartass bastard who mocked him in front of everyone and who Stilinski was counting the days before seeing him as the cop Donovan himself would never become now.

Theo widened his smirk as he detected the bloodlust bringing up in him. "But, I should warn you Donovan that it's not going to be as easy as you might think. You see, Stiles, he has 'gifts' of his own. If you're going to bring him down, you'll need a bit of an edge. And I know just how and where you can get it from."

* * *

Wilson Grant was getting out of his car, dressed in his school security uniform, heading into Devenford Prep. On the other side of the parking lot, he was being watched by Courtney, who had a hard, predatory expression on her face.

* * *

A/N: Seems like a lot of wheels are turning behind the scenes for our favorite pack of teen wolves. Who was Ms. Ramsey reporting on Scott to? I was disappointed that we didn't see more of that teacher. I thought her character had potential. When I first saw her, how she bluntly and critically responded to Scott in the classroom, I thought she might be the new Harris or something. Well, that's what I'm going to make her. She'll be giving Scott no mercy like Harris gave Stiles no mercy. Yet, there is more to her than meets the eye. It's not surprising, new teachers in that high school seem to always carry some kind of trouble or share a connection to what's going on.


	11. Condition Terminal 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another person is attacked by a new chimera and attacks Liam, Mason, Brett and Lori at a club. Scott and his friends come face to face with the Dread Doctors. The strain of the last few days catches up to Stiles, making him miss the events of the night but his own night takes a grim turn.

Stiles splashed cold water on his face for almost a full minute after he had gotten up and was now looking at himself in the mirror. Apparently, even werewolves could still get bags under their eyes though it was somewhat less noticeable now. After his talk with Wilson last night, he had come back home but hadn't gone straight to bed. He had to work on some readings and homework left over that he had to finish. It must've been maybe past 5am by the time he was done. As grateful as he was that he didn't have that stuff to worry about, he still was resentful towards his alarm clock waking him up two hours later.

He made his way to the cabinets in his kitchen and brought out the jar of Rishi that he had gotten from Satomi. When he drank the first sip of the tea, Stiles let himself expel a great puff of air as he could feel some relief spreading through him. He moved up for his dad's room and knocked but didn't detect his father inside. He opened the door and saw that his father's bed looked like it hadn't been slept in at all. He could only guess his dad was out heading the search for Donovan. Stiles couldn't believe the psycho escaped, because of Tracy, again. His father would be feeling pressure to find him as Donovan had slipped away two times in 24 hours. Maybe he should bring up trying to track Donovan down for his dad like Scott had.

He saw that his father had brought some papers from work and left them on his desk but they were strewn about on his desk. He thought it was a bit of a mess so he decided to go and tidy it up a bit for him. He saw that some were files from the station and a few bits of mail too. He stacked the files in one pile and the mail in another until he got to a large envelope that didn't have his father's name, but his own. It was stamped with a seal belonging to Georgetown University. He opened it and took out one of the papers inside to see it was a letter. As he read it, Stiles' heart dropped.

* * *

Wilson Grant was dressed in his full security uniform as he walked the length of the parking lot to get into the main school building of Devenford Prep. There were a few students out and about, just relaxing and enjoying a free period that they had and a few threw him a hello as he passed by, which he returned though not with much heart. It had been a long night with no leads after he had bid Stiles a good night. Whoever had been skulking around, had left no trail for him to pick up and was in the wind. Not to mention that he had been a little worried about the young Second from the McCall Pack for the rest of the night. He might need to call on Brett and Lori so he could speak with them before school went out today.

When he made it to the front doors, he stopped for a moment as he suddenly felt a stir in the air. It was like he could feel that something was close by. He turned around to look out in the direction of the parking lot but he saw nothing but parked cars and a handful of students. Yet, Wilson felt that something wasn't right around there as his eyes scanned the area. But he was brought out of it when the doors opened and nearly hit him as two students walked out.

"Sorry," one of them said to him.

"Not a problem," he told them with a small smile. He spared the parking lot a final quick look before he headed on inside.

A moment after he went in, a car parked off towards the middle of the lot had both of its front doors open. The chimera Courtney and Theo stepped out as they looked at the doors Wilson had stepped into.

"So, what do you think?" she asked him.

Theo sighed. "You were right. He is going to be a problem. Luckily, I have a way of making him part of the solution."

"How?" she asked looking over at him.

He smiled as he kept staring at the building. "I think its time to introduce you to a new friend of mine."

* * *

Stiles and Malia walked through the doors of the hospital and they headed for the elevators to get to the ICU. Malia had met up with Stiles when he arrived at school and he told her that he would be heading for the hospital to check on Lydia during his free period. Malia offered to come along with him. They were the only two in the elevator and Stiles let out a deep winded breath after he hit the button.

"Are you okay?" Malia asked him.

He blinked as he turned to her. "Yeah, fine. Why?"

"You smell anxious." Stiles gave her a look. "More than usual," she quickly added. "And you didn't say a word the whole ride over."

"I've just got a lot on my mind," he muttered almost under his breath.

"About what?"

The elevator stopped as they got to their floor.

He shook his head. "It's nothing." He then stepped out.

Malia stared after him for a moment as she easily tell that he lied. She couldn't help but think back to what her dad had talked about with her early that morning. But she stepped out of the elevator and followed after him.

The clerk looked up at them as they came over. "May I help you?" she asked them.

"We're to see Lydia Martin," Stiles told her.

"And you two are-?"

"Friends," Malia muttered.

But she shook her head. "I'm sorry, but you can't see her. She had left surgery less than 12 hours ago and only family are allowed to see her."

Stiles heavily sighed out. "Can you tell us how she is?"

"Yeah, is she okay?" Malia asked her.

"She's resting."

Stiles wasn't happy with that answer and pressed on. "But how is she? Is she okay? Is there nothing more you can tell us?"

"Please, calm down," she said to Stiles sharply.

"Is something wrong here?"

They looked over and saw that Parrish was coming over. He had been with Lydia but he had heard some commotion and saw that it was Stiles and Malia.

"You're here?" Stiles said in surprise.

"I stayed to watch over Lydia." Jordan looked over at the nurse. "It's okay. I'll take care of them."

She nodded as she moved back behind her desk leaving the three standing in the middle of the hall.

"How's Lydia?" Stiles asked.

"She woke up earlier this morning but went back to sleep over half an hour ago. That operation took a lot out of her but she'll be okay."

Stiles sighed in relief and Malia nodded.

"When can we see her?" she asked him.

"And how long is she going to stay here?" Stiles asked after.

Jordan moved his hands to his hips. "Uh, they're not going to let anyone outside her mother see her until probably sometime tomorrow afternoon. Lydia's going to be kept in observation for about a day as she takes some medication and gets her strength back but she shouldn't be here long. Maybe by Sunday afternoon or evening, she'll be let go. You'll definitely see her in school by Monday." He then leaned in closer to them. "You guys find out anything about what is going on around here yet?"

Stiles narrowed his eyes a bit. "That's what we were hoping to talk with Lydia about. We're going to meet with Scott and Kira to try to find out just what happened to Tracy and that guy you found that attacked us at the school. But, we're going to need the Bestiary."

"Oh, well I know that Lydia keeps it on the bookshelf by the desk in her room. She always pulls it out of there whenever we met up to do our research."

"Thanks Parrish. And, stay with her, okay?"

He nodded to him. "Yeah, I got it. Just go and find out what everything you can. If Lydia wakes up again, I'll tell her you two dropped by."

Stiles and Malia then said bye to him as they moved to leave the hospital. Jordan decided to go off to grab himself a cup of coffee before returning to Lydia's room, when his eyes fell upon a sign on the wall. It was one that pointed the way to the morgue. He found himself staring off in its direction for a moment before he blinked and continued on his way.

* * *

Scott and Kira were sitting together in the library, a form in between them. The form that Scott had taken from Ms. Ramsey that Scott's eyes were locked on.

"Are you sure you really want to do this?" Kira asked him. "I mean, I know what being in that class meant to you."

He kept his eyes on the form. "I don't  _want_  to, but I don't think I have any other choice."

Scott pulled the form closer to him and pulled out his pen. He looked at the form's heading one more time before he moved to begin filling it out. Kira looked sadly at him as he began writing. However, Scott only got as far as his name when he caught sight of Malia heading for them.

"Hey guys," she said before lifting up the book in her arms. "I got it."

"Great," Scott sighed. But he narrowed his eyes as it seemed that she had come alone. "Where's Stiles?"

"Oh, some girl named Gwen came up with two others and asked if he could help see if they might have a shot in getting on the team. They said they tried to ask you but you never showed up."

"Oh…right," Scott said, shutting his eyes in irritation.

Scott remembered being approached by Gwen and a handful of sophomores and freshmen, asking about the team last week. They had asked if they could show him what they could do and see if they would have a chance to be on the team. Since a few had graduated, there were now openings for first and second line. Scott had told them to gather at the lacrosse field after school and he would give them a little practice tryout. But he'd had gotten distracted with everything that happened with Liam, Mason and the wolf, along with Stiles and his 'event scars', that he had gone straight to Deaton after school and forgotten all about the meeting. Sad to say, Scott just now remembered it at all.

"Well, Stiles went with them to the lacrosse field to help them. Said he would meet back here a little later."

Scott could see why they would go to Stiles. He was co-captain now. Though, Scott wondered if he was still upset after last night. After what happened with both Malia and Lydia, he could understand. Yet Stiles seemed especially mad with him for some reason but Scott couldn't understand why.

"Did he manage to see Lydia?" he asked.

"I went with him to the hospital but they wouldn't let us see her. Something about only letting her family in…but, we ran into Parrish. He told us she's awake, a little sore but she'll be okay. She'll be out of the hospital tomorrow night, probably."

Both Scott and Kira sighed in relief.

His eyes then flew to the book she was holding. "That the bestiary?"

Malia went and put the book down right in front of them. Scott opened it to where the word Bestiary was written elegantly.

Kira looked at the pages where Lydia had writing everything she had translated from the Argent's thumb drive bestiary. "Anything in here about half werewolves, half kanimas?" she asked when they got to an entry about Berserkers.

"The Chimera," Scott corrected her.

Malia narrowed her eyes. "What? What's that?"

"A Chimera, it's a creature made of incongruous parts."

Malia narrowed her eyes at her, even more lost than before.

Kira noticed. "It means that they have parts of different creatures mixed together."

"Oh, that sounds…terrifying," she muttered, having flashbacks with Tracy having werewolf teeth and a lizard tail. "So, Tracy is a Chimera."

"Not just Tracy," said Scott. "Liam said that he found two more burial sites. That means that Tracy is not the only one."

"So who's the other chimera?" Kira asked him.

"Scott shrugged. "I don't know. It could be anyone."

"And they're getting buried?" asked Malia. "Why?"

"Deaton thinks it's a part of the process. It's their way of turning them."

Malia jaw tightened a bit. "The people in masks."

* * *

When the early tryout was over, Stiles had come into the library to find that the others were already hard at work trying to find more information about these 'chimeras'. He had to admit that Scott found the perfect name for these new 'things' that were popping up. Scott and Kira updated him on what Deaton had told them. It freaked him out to know that somebody, the three in masks that Malia ran into, were going all mad scientist and making supernatural creatures by mixing animal and creature parts together. Stiles also gave Scott the list of people that tried out who he thought had been good. Scott pocketed it and said he would look at them later and they went to work.

Stiles had at least four myth and legend books open in front of him, above the bestiary. He already knew a bit about creatures made from multiple animals from his online gaming days. The sphinx, griffin, basilisk, manticore, cockatrice, gorgon and hippogriff coming to him off the bat. None of them were sure if any of these creatures really did exist but given that many thought things like werewolves or kitsunes didn't exist, they couldn't be written off. Stiles had to wonder what these men in masks were up to. Why 'make' creatures out of random people and set them loose? What were they up to? Were they more guys who were after him and his friends, or were they just playing Dr. Frankenstein for the hell of it?

Eventually Scott and Kira had to leave to go home and Stiles was left alone with Malia, as they decided to try and keep looking. As the sun went down, Stiles found his eyes were starting to get heavy and he was finding himself feeling weary. It looked like the last two days were starting to catch up with him. A few times, he blinked hard and shook his head to stay focused but he eventually just tapped out and was snoring over the bestiary.

Malia was not really reading anything but letting her mind wander as she was absentmindedly clicking her pen. She was beginning to recall her near death experience with Tracy, and what happened when those three masked men showed up and killed her. As she clicked the pen again, she saw how that one had stuck the syringe into Tracy's neck and pumped her full of something that made her bleed gray goo from her mouth. Malia blinked and put the pen down. She didn't feel like being here anymore.

"Hey," she said, grabbing her bag. "I'm going to take off." Stiles mumbled at her but didn't move. "Stiles, wake up and go home. I'll meet you there in a bit." [He answered with another mumble but still didn't move](https://www.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/stiles-teen-wolf-5x04.jpg).

Malia began head down the stairs for the main door. She saw that there were no other students left in there. The only other people in the library were the librarian and two men setting up a scaffold. They were moving some equipment and tools on the top of it. Malia left the room but nearly bumped into someone as she turned the corner.

"Sorry," she mumbled before she headed off.

That person was Ms. Ramsey. She took a moment to look at Malia heading off before she moved into the library. She found the librarian at the desk. She moved and reached into her bag as she went and put a book out onto the desk in from of her.

"I'm done with this one," she told her.

The librarian looked down and saw that it was a romance novel. "Oh, I've read that one. You like it?"

"Better than my last relationship," Ramsey joked.

The librarian cracked an amused chuckle. "You're here late," she said, moving to place the book in her return rack.

"Yeah, had some papers I needed to grade. What about you? I'm surprised to see you still here on a Friday night."

"There were still some students with rare and sensitive study material and I'm waiting to get it back."

She then remembered Malia. "Yeah, I just saw one leave a moment ago."

"But there's still one more left. And, he still has them. So I can't leave until I get them back to lock them back up."

"Oh, well at least he's dedicated," she said, pointing out the silver lining. Too often Ramsey had seen students who only put in the bare minimum needed to just get by or just give up the moment they hit a wall.

"To what though? Fantasy? The study material checked out was on mythology and fantasy lore."

She rose her eyes up at that. "Really?"

Ramsey then took up the stairs to see who the student was and found that it was Stiles Stilinski. He had a handful of those books out on the table in front of him but it looked like he was sound asleep, and drooling. Ramsey moved to carefully grab the book that he was sleeping over without waking him. She had heard about his situation and figured this was most likely the most sleep he was getting this week so she decided to let him have it but moved to start collecting the books so the librarian wouldn't get impatient and wake him. He was groaning as she slipped the book from under him, stirred a bit, but kept his eyes shut. She saw that it was a bestiary and it was open to an entry about Wendigos. It wasn't one of the school's so she left it at the side and moved to gather up the other ones.

She set the bestiary down but froze when she noticed something. On the desk, there were scratches. They seemed pretty recent and they were next to Stiles' hand, most likely done by his nails, his  _other_  nails, in his sleep. But, she noticed that they seemed to [form a shape](https://static3.depositphotos.com/1007204/222/v/950/depositphotos_2225162-stock-illustration-black-and-white-spiral-vector.jpg) and Ramsey took a step back and saw that it was meshed double spiral. She took out her phone and snapped a quick picture. Her eyes then fell on one of the books that was opened to the legend of the Beast of Gevaudan. She sighed as she looked from the book to the boy. Ramsey then grabbed it and the other library texts and headed off for the front desk.

"Here you go," she said, handing them over. "It looks like he was pretty much done with these. He might still be a while but it looks like you can go."

"Thank you," the librarian said, gratefully as she moved to go and put the books away in the back room.

Ramsey then moved to take her leave. She already had a scheduled talk with someone about Scott McCall. It looked like he wasn't the only one that she had to talk seriously about now.

* * *

Mason had come up to Liam and asked him if he could come with him to a club called Sinema that night. Apparently it was a place that was starting to get pretty popular around town. After everything that happened last night, Mason felt that Liam could use a little fun to help take his mind off of freaky supernatural hybrids coming out and attacking them. Though, it was clear that Liam was still nervous as he was checking his phone every other minute for any news from the others.

"Can you put your phone away for five minutes? Scott can howl if he needs you."

Liam let out a heated sigh, but went to pocket his phone. "I just feel I should be doing something," he told him.

Scott, Stiles and the others were all out trying to find out more about these things, and the people in masks that Malia saw. Lydia was in the hospital. Yet, here he was, going to a club.

"You are," Mason told him. "You're my wingman tonight. And considering the current state of my dating life, I need a wingman, co-pilot and a really hot flight attendant."

"Yeah, well I'm definitely not your hot flight attendant."

Mason shrugged. "Okay, yeah, my choices are somewhat limited. At least you have someone who's interested."

Liam rose his eyebrows at him. "What are you talking about?"

Mason smirked at him. "For real, you haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

Mason let his eyes roll back and shook his head at how dense his friend was. Lori clearly had eyes for Liam, it was so obvious not just to him but her brother as well. But it looked like Liam was clueless.

"Oh my god. You know what, let's just go in and have fun. I could go and lose myself in a few guys, and you could go relax a bit and get drunk."

"Yeah, werewolves can't get drunk Mase."

That made his eyes widen. "For real? Wow dude, that really…sucks. But you know what, it doesn't matter. Know why? Because we're going to go in there and have a good time anyway," he said suggestively. "Both of us."

Liam blinked as Mason took off. "Yeah, right," he mumbled before following after him.

The doors opened and Hayden suddenly walked out but stopped at the sight of them. Liam sighed out heatedly as he saw her quickly turn her head to avoid looking at him.

Hayden threw Mason an annoyed look. "I said I'd let you in. Not him."

"You said I could bring a plus one," Mason argued.

"I didn't say plus Liam."

Liam had been silent through the whole thing but he then broke it. "I'm his flight attendant."

Hayden narrowed her eyes at him. "What?"

He blinked. "Wingman," he quickly corrected.

Before anything could be said, someone else started to peek out through the door. They saw that it was Lori.

"Hey Liam," she said at him with a small smile. "Thought I heard your voice out here."

Liam's lip curved up a bit. "Hey Lori," he said back to her pleasantly.

Hayden narrowed her eyes at that and she looked even more annoyed and ticked off, seeing Liam smiling at Lori. Mason noticed it and was fighting really hard not to laugh or smirk at this whole thing. But, he did clear his throat a little louder than necessary to snap everyone out of this.

"And Mason, hey," Lori said, blinking herself back into focus. "You guys made it. Trust me, you're going to love this place."

"He's not coming in," Hayden said, looking pointedly at Liam.

"What? Why not, what's wrong?"

"Hayden, come on," Mason said to her.

"Not him," she said stiffly.

"Why not?" Lori asked more firmly, making Hayden glare a bit at her.

Liam sighed. "Look, guys, just stop. I don't want any trouble. I can just leave."

Before Hayden could throw back a retort, someone else came at the door. The club owner.

"Hey what is going on out here? Hayden?" the man asked her. He then looked at the boys. "These two giving you trouble?"

Liam, Mason and Lori looked over at her as Hayden's tightened her jaw for a moment.

Lori was the first to talk. "No, we're all just talking. Hayden was just surprised because my brother and I had invited these two and they go to school with her."

"That right Hayden?" the man asked her pointedly.

She was silent for a moment before she sighed and let a small smile loose. "Yeah. I was just a little surprised. Didn't think Liam could have that many friends," she said with barely concealed sarcasm.

Liam gave her a not so subtle roll of his eyes, one that made Lori's lips thin out. Mason tried to avoid looking at any of them. The tension here was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

Hayden's boss either didn't seem to notice or didn't care. "Yeah, well Hayden I'm not paying you to talk with your friends. If they're coming in, then let them in already, and get back to work. You and your brother and your friends have fun Lori," he said more calmly before he then stomped back inside, leaving the four teens to their tension.

She bit the corner of her cheek but moved to pull the door open wider. "Welcome to Sinema," she said to the boys.

Liam and Mason went inside, right behind Lori as Hayden went and shut the door a little harder than necessary. The boys stepped out of the entrance area and their faces lit up as they took in the club. There was a DJ up on a stage blasting music with strobe and laser lights flashing everywhere giving off quite a party atmosphere. There were scores of people enjoying the atmosphere as they swayed and danced all around the place. There were also special one man stages set up here and there where there were a few half-naked guys dancing with some other guys, girls or drag queens dancing or watching nearby. Mason couldn't help a wide smile creeping up on him as he took in everything.

Liam though was starting to get a little nervous. "[We don't look old enough to be here](https://i.gifer.com/STHH.gif)." Most of the people here seemed to be around their twenties. He even caught sight of a fully stocked bar off to the side.

"Technically," Lori said to him. "But the manager has been known to make exceptions here and there. As long as you don't make trouble."

"Like you?" he asked her. The guy seemed to like her back there.

Lori shook her head. "Like my brother," she said, pointing her chin off to their right.

Liam and Mason looked over and found [Brett was dancing quite sensationally with a girl to the side](https://66.media.tumblr.com/83a583439c7af05cfaa266f3b0b5e6ad/tumblr_nrgp9e84vE1s1ab16o1_500.gif). They were swaying and rubbing against each other to the music.

"He's a regular around here. And a favorite for the manager because he usually makes first timers want to come for return visits." Lori continued. "Girls." They watched as Brett moved away from her and [reached for a guy next to them](https://38.media.tumblr.com/67da01e651e5e58477dffe49763d6505/tumblr_nri6ktLI4i1tqtt3wo3_540.gif) and started to dance and rub against him as the girl kept dancing and swaying near them. "And guys."

Liam guessed that was why Hayden bent to her manager and let him in. Didn't want to risk upsetting one of her boss' best customers and favorites. "So this club is mixed?" he asked.

Mason shrugged. "Ish." It seemed like his kind of place. He was happy he came along. "Well, I'm going to see if I can find a first timer for myself." He then quickly headed off, leaving Liam with Lori smiling after him.

"He'll be busy for a while," Liam muttered.

Lori giggled. "He just wants to have fun. Isn't that why you came here too?"

"I'm here to be his wingman."

Lori raised her eyes at that one. She then looked over and saw that her brother was looking right at her, in between the guy and girl pair he was dancing with. She could read the insistent look on his face. He was telling her to 'make your move'. He then thrust his chin up a tad. 'Now' he had added.

She sighed and then grabbed his hand. "Well, looks like Mason left you at the controls. So let's go take off?"

"What?" he muttered before he felt himself getting yanked.

Lori then began leading Liam through the dancing bodies until they got to an empty spot on the dance floor. Lori then turned to face him and started dancing. Liam just stood there awkwardly, surprised at this sudden change and move.

Lori's face fell a bit. "Something wrong?" she asked over the music, hoping it wasn't her.

But Liam shook his head. "No, it's just…I can't help but feel like I'm supposed to be doing something."

She stopped moving and stared right at him. "Like what?"

"I don't know, something. Scott, Stiles, Malia, and Kira are out trying to find out everything they can about these chimeras. Our word for them," he explained at her perplexed look. "I just think that they'll always see me as the 'baby' in the group."

Lori nodded. "Yeah, I get it. It can suck when you're the youngest or newest in the pack." That's what she was. "It can be frustrating whenever Satomi tells me to just keep an eye out, just be careful and act normal. Not to mention, Wilson and my brother always pulling me behind them like I can't look out for myself."

Liam dropped his gaze a bit. That was what Scott seemed to do a good deal of the time. Tell him not to worry and just try and be a normal kid. And he couldn't help but remember how Stiles had pulled him behind after he stepped up when they confronted Theo in the woods. "How do you handle it?"

She shrugged. "I just make sure that Satomi, Wilson, Brett and everyone else knows that I'm there when they need me and can count on me when the time is right." Liam quickly looked skeptical and she rolled her eyes at him. "Doesn't sound like much, I know, but you might be surprised at you how much it can matter. Especially with people that care as much as your pack does. Right now though, you have a chance to take a break and have fun. I say milk it because something tells me these chimeras aren't going to let any of us have much."

Liam just stared at her for a moment before he slowly broke a small smile, then started to sway a bit in his spot to the music. Lori smiled back and started to sway a bit with him. They started to slowly build momentum together until they were full on dancing together. Getting more into it, Lori's hand found its way on his shoulder and pulled herself a little closer to him, dancing with even more energy. Liam let out a breathless chuckle as he started to dance a little harder himself.

Off to the sides, both Brett and Mason watched the two of them and they both smiled a bit at the sight. Though Brett's face fell a bit when Liam's hands found their way to the back of his sister's waist.

"Hey," Mason said, shaking at his shoulder. "Settle down there wolf boy. Let them have some fun."

Brett narrowed his eyes a bit as Mason offered him a shot. He grabbed it and guzzled it down in a hard second, both shocking and impressing Mason.

Over at the bar, Hayden was watching them too as Phil the Bartender loaded the tray with long shots. As soon as he loaded the last of the shots, he noticed that Hayden was distracted. So he went to sneak one of them off the tray and drank it. Hayden was still watching as Liam wrapped his arms around Lori and she seemed to whisper something into his ear that caused them both to laugh and dance closer together. She felt her tray get bumped and looked over to see Phil plucking out two shots and there were a few empty spots on the tray and realized that he had been drinking them.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" she spat at him. "You know I have to pay for these, don't you?" She counted and already, there were five spots empty, having drunk them when she had been distracted no doubt.

"Yep," he snorted at her. He then reached for another one.

But Hayden pulled the tray away and almost half of the shot from the one he grabbed had spilled. "Here." Hayden then took the half empty shot and flung the rest of it at him, hitting him at his chest and face.

"The hell Romero?" he said before reaching for a towel.

"What are you complaining about Phil. You just stay back there and get drunk." She then huffed as she moved to head out with the shots.

"What got stuck up in her?" he mummed to himself before he reached for another bottle.

Hayden looked down at her and at her small stack of tips. "I'm never going to make enough," she hissed out before heading off.

She was unaware that Liam was watching her, and that he had heard what she just said.

Lori had noticed that Liam stopped dancing and seemed to be gazing off. "Something wrong?"

"What?" He then remembered the fun the two had been having together before he picked up Hayden's scent and voice. "Oh, sorry. I just, uh…sorry."

Lori then looked over and spotted Hayden in the direction that he had been staring off at. At the girl that had tried to deny letting him in. She realized that there must be some history there

"No, it's alright." Her voice had cracked a bit so she cleared her throat. "I'm going to go and get some water."

"Lori," he said softly but she was already walking away. He sighed heatedly as he was left alone in the middle of the dance floor. "Great," he mumbled to himself.

He looked off and found that Mason had found his way over to Brett and [they were toasting each other](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/NeedyJovialArcticwolf-size_restricted.gif) with shots before guzzling them down. He was happy that at least Mason was having fun, even if that fun was with Brett. He wasn't so bothered by that guy as much anymore, especially after he had come to help them find those holes in the woods.

But suddenly, Liam felt something stirring in the air. He narrowed his eyes a bit as everything around him seemed to slow down and deafen as his instincts seemed to flare up. He could suddenly hear a single person breathing, and the sounds of a single pair of shoes stepping down the club. It seemed to be coming from behind him. He turned around but didn't seem to see anyone as his surroundings seemed to return to normal. Something told Liam that something wasn't right here…or rather, someone.

* * *

Scott and Kira watched as the elevator doors opened and Scott's mom was practically there to wave them to follow her. After they had left the school library, the two of them had gone off to and grab a bite to eat together. Afterwards, they were going to head to his place, but Scott's mom had called about a patient that she felt they had to see.

"He came in about 45 minutes ago," she told them as she led them through the halls.

They then quickly heard the sound of someone screaming out in pain. Liam's stepdad came over and informed Melissa that he was going to run off to find an anesthesiologist, leaving the three of them in front of the room where they could still hear the hard screaming almost clearly through the closed door.

"Mom, what's happening to him?" Scott asked as he stared at the door as the pained screaming continued.

"It's the pain, nothing's working. We already pumped him full of morphine."

"Can't we do anything to help him?" asked Kira.

"We put him into a medically induced coma. It's how we help burn victims deal with the pain," Melissa explained.

Scott narrowed his eyes. "Maybe I can help him," he told them. After all, he had something that worked better than morphine.

Scott then stepped inside and found that it was a kid, around Liam's own age. He remembers seeing him around the school sometimes in between classes. There was a medicinal wrap around his whole lower arm and Scott could smell blood and something else mixed in. [The kid was restrained to the bed](https://66.media.tumblr.com/800b1ac3549d4277e8c8402e73946a61/tumblr_pc6b25PdG91xv7qgjo3_250.gif), sweating buckets as he whimpered and screamed and Scott's heart fell at the sight of him.

"Please, make it stop!" he cried out desperately.

Scott moved to take his hand with both of his and began to pull pain away from him. However, it was a lot, more than Scott had been expecting. It flowed up his arms and neck and started to go straight into his head and Scott almost collapsed at how intense the pain was. It was no wonder morphine wasn't doing anything. This kid's pain was…unnaturally high. Kira moved to try and steady Scott, trying to get him to let go but Scott didn't. He kept pulling as much pain as possible until the kid's screaming stopped and he seemed to settle down. Scott then let go and leaned over

"Let me see his arm," he asked his mom.

Melissa then went and carefully peeled back the wrap and they found that there was a big gash on his arm, but there wasn't red blood. There was some kind of brown/black dried residue all over the wound.

"Holy," Kira gasped.

"What is that?" asked Scott.

"The lab says its scorpion venom."

Scott's eyes went up. "Scorpion?" What kind of scorpion could've done this?

"But that's not the weirdest part. With a sting this bad, he should have been dead 10 hours ago. And, the scorpion that could've done this would have to be 10 feet tall.

"Please don't tell me there is a giant scorpion running across town," Kira freaked.

Scott could only think of one plausible explanation for this. There had to be a new Chimera out there, one that was part scorpion. But, they had no idea where to start looking for it.

"Lucas," the kid suddenly gasped out at them. "It was Lucas."

"Lucas?" said Scott. Was that the chimera's name.

"My boyfriend, I guess. We've been seeing each other a couple of weeks."

"What's your name?" Kira asked him.

"Corey," he answered.

Scott moved to kneel over next to him and started to speak softly to him. "Corey, what Lucas did to you, he's gonna do to someone else and it's gonna be much worse."

Kira moved to back him up. "We need to know what happened," she said to him gently.

"I don't know. He's never been like that before." He then moved to sit up a bit. He cringed a little, but managed to straighten a bit in the bed.

"Like what?" asked Scott.

"Aggressive. We were taking it slow, but it wasn't me.  _He_  was the shy one. Then we're hanging out today and it was like he was a different person."

"Different how?" asked Scott.

"Like, super confident. We were just kissing and then, I felt this sharp sting on my arm. And then I looked up at him and I swear that his eyes turned black."

Kira stepped nervously closer to him. "You mean, totally black?"

Corey nodded. "The whole eye. But, it was only for a second. Then he said sorry and that he'll see me at the club tonight and then he just left. A few minutes later, I'm in the worst pain of my life."

"Hold on, you said club. What club?" she asked.

"Every Friday night. Sinema."

"Sinema?" Scott repeated a little louder.

* * *

Lori was leaning on the wall, close to the bar, playing with a bottle of water in her hands. She was so distracted by it and her thoughts, that she didn't see her brother approaching her.

"Is the bottle really that interesting?" Brett asked her in jest.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Hey."

"What's up? It looked you were having quite a bit of fun a while ago."

"Yeah and I thought I wasn't the only one," she said glumly.

Brett's face fell. "What's up?"

"It's nothing," she said insistently.

Now he knew that it had to be something.

At the opposite side of the club, Liam kept scanning the crowd, his instincts telling him to be tense and alert. Something was here, hiding, but he could feel it was close. He was so tense that he jumped when he had been grabbed from behind. He almost moved to attack when he saw that it was just Brett.

"God," he panted out.

"Hey, what's going on?" Brett asked. "What happened with you and my sister?"

Liam blinked. "What? Nothing."

Brett rose an eyebrow at him, clearly not buying it. Liam found himself squirming a bit under his gaze and his eyes flew off towards where Hayden was serving some people some shots.

"Who is that?"

"Hayden," Liam answered glumly.

Brett was starting to feel a love/hate vibe about those two. "[She an ex or something?](https://66.media.tumblr.com/2c6e2381ae455d8b523996eff7a81f6a/tumblr_inline_oyacn2KckP1uqv8jn_540.gif)"

"What? No," he said quickly. "It's not like that."

"Then what is it like?"

"Nothing. It's, it's nothing."

"Well it clearly must be something or my sister wouldn't be off by herself right now."

Liam's face fell. "What do you mean?"

"You're kidding? You really can't tell?"

Liam's face widened as if to silently ask him, ' _Know what_?'.

"You really don't get it? Sheesh, even Mason could tell right off the bat." Brett rolled his eyes.

"Tell what?" Liam asked impatiently.

"Lori…she likes you. I mean  _really_  likes you."

That made Liam freeze. "What, really?"

"Uh, yeah, really," Brett said sarcastically. Then he settled a bit. "For some bizarre reason, she's always kind of thought you were cute. And after that whole Deadpool thing, I think that kind of clinched it for her. That was the real reason she wanted to come to Sinema tonight, because she heard you might be coming."

Now Liam understood what Mason's earlier comment about him having someone interested had meant. "Lori likes me?"

"Yeah, so you [watch yourself around my sister](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0f/c8/cc/0fc8cc607b755ffa336800362f1699ae.gif)," he said with a bit of warning in his tone. "If you hurt her, you'll answer to me."

Liam took a second to dwell on all that before he felt his insides twitch as the feeling from before came back. "Hey, do you feel that?" he asked Brett.

"Feel what?"

"I don't think we're the only ' _special_ ' ones here."

Brett saw that Liam seemed to be tensing up and he moved to scanned the crowd. After a second, he shrugged. "No, I don't feel anything."

"There's someone else here. Besides us and Lori.  _Something_  else."

"Another werewolf?"

But Liam shook his head. "No, not a werewolf." After hanging around so many over the last six months, both in his and Brett's pack, he knew what being around a werewolf felt like. "Something different. Like us…but they're not like us. You sure you can't feel anything?"

Brett shrugged. "Maybe, but it's Beacon Hills. That could mean anything. What's the difference?" After all, he knew that it wasn't just werewolves that were around here. Liam's pack had a banshee, kitsune and werecoyote in it. He couldn't help but feel concerned at how Liam seemed so bothered.

But Liam shook his head. "There's something off about it. It feels…wrong."

Brett moved to try and settle him down but Liam took off to keep searching. A moment after Liam left, Mason came up to him.

"Hey, uh, do you see that guy?" Mason asked him, pointing to a [cute guy with a buzz cut](https://66.media.tumblr.com/53b1c145305f508663e6153733e89553/tumblr_nrggblp9vy1qixosbo1_500.gif). "You know him?"

Brett nodded. "Yeah, that's Lucas."

Brett then turned and started to look off to try and find the one Liam had been talking about while Mason and Lucas stared at each other. Soon, the both of them had flirting smiles on them as they kept staring at each other. What Mason couldn't see though was that there were stingers starting to pop out at the sides of his arms.

As Liam moved through the club, he had to wonder if what he was feeling might be coming from one of 'them'. The Chimeras that Scott had mentioned. Was one here? He felt a shift in the air, and Liam felt his eyes glow in response. He started to aggressively push his way through the crowd, trying to find where this feeling was coming from but he ended up bumping into someone and some glasses fell. He looked up to find Hayden bearing down on him.

"Are you kidding me?" she spat at him. "Those were $10 each Liam."

"Sorry," he quickly apologized.

Hayden clicked her tongue in irritation. "The bartender isn't just going to just refill them for me." Especially with her last aggravated stunt with him.

Liam quickly started to reach for his pockets. "It's okay, I've got money." He reached around and found some money. "I've got $12." He reached into another pocket and pulled out some coins. "And change," he added.

Hayden took the bills but grabbed the coins and [threw them right back at him](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/QuaintSimilarBlacklemur-small.gif). "You still owe me $200." She then left him at that.

Liam watched as the coins scattered around him. He was going to start trying to pick them up but he stopped when he saw Lori walking off. It looked like she was heading off for the entrance. He forgot the dropped change and ran over to her.

"Lori, where are you going?" he asked as reached her. "Are you leaving?"

She sighed. "Yeah. I think I'm going to just head on home."

Seeing how dejected she looked, Liam couldn't help but feel bad. Lori had helped him actually feel a little better tonight and he had blown her off in the middle of them having fun.

Mason had gone over to Lucas and they moved to find some privacy in the back. They headed through some bead curtains and found a vacant spot that was a little dark but quieter.

"Night of the Living Dead," Mason said suddenly.

Lucas seemed thrown at that random bit. "What? The movie?"

Mason looked over at the far side and Lucas saw that there was a movie projector on and a movie was going. It was the movie Night of the Living Dead. It was how the club got its name but, right now, there was no one else in the projector room.

"Yeah, it's one of the first classic zombie movies. Have you never seen it?"

"Never. How does it end?"

"Zombies pretty much win. All the good guys die."

A sort of hungry look came over Lucas. "So, I guess it's better to be one of the bad guys." He then started to slowly approach him, like an animal on the prowl.

Mason started to back up a bit but had an entranced look on his face as he stared at Lucas. "Maybe," he said lightly. But then he stopped when he hit a wall. "Sometimes."

The two of them then started to kiss and make out. Mason didn't notice the stingers emerging out of Lucas' back, along his spine. As they kept getting into it, the stingers began to travel and appear alongside his arms but Mason still was none the wiser.

Lucas was smirking as he kissed Mason and was about to drive plunge a stinger at him when he had been grabbed at the back of his shirt and flung back across the room. Brett, shifted and snarling, looked down at Lucas who raised his head up at him to show that his eyes had gone completely black and his stingers were in full view.

Brett turned back to Mason. "Run for it," he growled at him.

Mason bolted as Brett turned and faced Lucas again, who had gotten back to his feet. They then threw a hard growl at each other.

Back with Liam and Lori, they were snapped out of their awkward moment when they heard the growl.

"Brett?" Lori gasped out in surprise.

"Oh no," Liam muttered.

Outside the club, Scott and Kira were moving fast paced and nervously.

"A kid turning into a half-scorpion, half-werewolf. Is there even a myth for that?" she asked him.

Scott nodded. "Sumerian. I remember something about it in the bestiary." He think it was called a manticore or something.

They walked into the club through the back entrance and got inside to find that an alarm had been triggered. Kira quickly moved for her belt and removed a metal disc and quickly threw it at the bell, stopping it.

Scott shook his head in exasperation. "God, I love you," he said to her.

He then took off for the club floor, leaving Kira there, slightly in shock at what he had just said to her. She blinked and then ran to catch up to him. She saw that he was looking around and acting like nothing was different or changed and Kira shook her head in disbelief.

"You did it again. You did something that changed everything and you don't even realize you did it. But you did."

He stopped and turned to face her. "I did?" he asked, wondering what she was talking about. That made Kira give him a look.

But they were thrown out of it when they heard roaring through the music.

[Brett was fighting with Lucas](https://66.media.tumblr.com/dbc452e226ce1eb42813b03ef8618703/tumblr_nrgts1mKgs1s6h3qoo1_250.gif), and it seemed like he might have the upper hand against him, but Lucas managed to nick at Brett's leg with one of his stingers. Brett cringed as he felt a numbing pain spread from his leg, to the rest of his body for a moment. A moment that gave Lucas enough time to strike again, this time across Brett's torso. Brett fell to the floor, practically helpless as Lucas raised his arm to prepare another strike on him.

But a hard roar made him freeze and look over. Lori had roared at him and Liam rushed in and jackknifed him off into a nearby table.

Lori jumped down to kneel before her brother. "You okay?"

"I'll be alright. Get him," he growled at her.

Lucas fought Liam off and managed to turn them around so that he was lying on top of the table, trying to hold him and his claws from reaching his neck. Lori brought out her claws and was moving to go and strike at Lucas' back but froze when a hard pain hit her heart. She cringed back and fell to one knee, just as Brett felt the same pain and grabbed at his heart, which was hurting more than the wounds from Lucas. The siblings moved to share a disturbed look at each other as they held their chests.

"Wilson," they gasped to each other, in pain.

Meanwhile, Liam had been left to try and fight off Lucas by himself. The stingers itching closer and closer to his face. He vaguely wondered where Lori was but then heard someone come into the projector room and saw that it was Scott and Kira.

"[You're a little late](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_504_liam_in_the_club_like1.gif)," he grunted against Lucas' hold.

Scott took note of Brett and Lori on the floor, seemingly in pain before he moved to swing on a pole and kick Lucas off Liam while Kira removed her belt and had it transform into her sword. Scott carefully stepped back to avoid a strike from Lucas' claws so that he wouldn't get hit or injected with any venom from his stingers. But Lucas kicked at Scott's chest and sent him flying off into the wall.

Liam had taken the free moment he had to look over and saw that Lori was crutched on the floor, apparently hurt. That made him growl at Lucas and he ran at him with his claws raised but Lucas avoided his strike and moved to kick him down as well. Liam quickly brought his hands and caught Lucas' foot. He then savagely threw it back, nearly making the chimera stumble back and almost lose his balance and fall. While stunned, Liam moved to capitalize and tackled into Lucas, fully knocking them down. As they rolled onto the floor, Lucas had thrust his arm into Liam's side, making him cry out in pain as he felt some stingers pierce into him.

Lucas quickly made his way to his feet to see Kira moving for him, swinging her sword. He moved his arm to intercept the blade with his stinger before moving his other arm to strike at her. Kira managed to duck out of its way as she spun and tried to come at him with her sword again. But Lucas had raised his arm and intercepted the blade again.

Mason found his way back into the room and kneeled over to where Brett and Lori were. "Are you two okay?" he asked them, seeing that they both seemed hurt. He caught the sight of Brett bleeding and [moved to try and hold the wound](https://em.wattpad.com/52ee6bf816c2cad0d6d9a895d2d3bd36888dfc7b/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f54526275557a78794c644d5950773d3d2d3432343737323137342e313463383532626561306662633737613532333530323033343035342e676966?s=fit&w=720&h=720) and stop the blood, but didn't see any wound on Lori. Yet, she still seemed very hurt, holding her chest. "Lori, what's wrong?"

"Something…something's happened," she grunted out lowly.

"What?" he asked.

"To Wilson. We can feel it. Something's happened to him. Something bad."

"What?" Mason asked again, more desperately.

The siblings shared a look.

"I think we've lost him," Brett painfully grumbled out.

Kira was still fighting Lucas, trying to land a blow with her sword but he was meeting and blocking every strike with his stinger loaded arms. She then got an idea and moved to throw another sword strike and again, Lucas blocked it. But when he did, Kira quickly jumped and threw a kick at his chest, that sent him stumbling back, stunned. Liam grit his teeth through the pain from his stingers and moved to grab at Lucas as soon as he recovered and ran for Kira. Liam took him at his shoulders, being mindful of the stingers this time and threw him to the ground. Liam then moved to put his foot to keep him pinned down and he growled a bit down at him.

As Lucas was pinned, his black eyes slowly shifted back to normal and his muscles seemed to relax under Liam's foot. It seemed that Lucas was calming down. Liam looked over to see that Mason was with Brett and Lori off to the side. He saw that the two of them looked like they were in some kind of distress. His face fell a bit when he saw that Lori seemed to be in pain, though he couldn't detect any blood or injury on her and grew concerned at what was wrong.

Lucas was still lying there on the ground but his stingers were still on display on his arms. Kira saw that Liam had let his guard down on him, just as Malia had let her guard down with Tracy. She remembered how Tracy had gotten the drop and nearly killed Malia in that moment. Lucas' eyes were normal but he didn't look like he was in a trance or terror like Tracy supposedly had been, nor did it sound like he had been in one with Corey. Just then, a part of her started screamed for her to move. As if on automatic, she began twirling her sword as her aura flared up.

Scott noticed her moving in, screaming in Japanese as she went for what seemed to be a killing blow. He managed to [catch her wrists](https://66.media.tumblr.com/18122c62440d0abd864700f2c4b2de7c/tumblr_nrgipxY2JD1qixosbo3_500.gif) before she could bring her sword down on him. As Scott caught Kira's glowing eyes, her aura seemed to burn brighter until all he saw was the face of the fox, without even having to use his wolf eyes. It lasted for a moment before it fizzled out and Kira seemed back to normal. Lucas seemed to pass out then and there and Scott blinked as everyone seemed to calm themselves down.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked. Nobody said anything but the made silent gestures to show that they were more or less okay, physically at least. Scott then looked down at Lucas, who was still displaying his stingers. "Liam, help me get him out of here."

They moved to grab Lucas' arms and legs but before they could start carrying him out, a blade went and pierced his chest. They dropped him in shock as they saw the blade leaving Lucas' chest and flying off to a harpoon gun being carried by a man in a metallic mask up in the rafters. They saw that there were three of them. The men that Malia had told them about.

Scott looked down and saw that Lucas was now dead. "Why did you do that?"

The Surgeon looked down at Scott as the other two started to blur out of sight. "His condition was terminal," he said in a monotone voice. Then he started to blur too.

"What does that mean?" Scott gasped. "What does that mean?!" He repeated when the Surgeon seemed to turn around.

The Surgeon looked back at him. "Failure."

There was then an electrical discharge that turned off the lights for a moment. When they flickered back on, the three of them were gone.

* * *

Malia had been heading for Stiles' house, but her route had taken her in the vicinity of Tracy's house. She decided to head on for it and go inside. It was easy to get inside as the place was empty, as all the people who had lived there were now dead. Mr. Stewart by his own daughter's hand, or claws. And Tracy by the men in the masks. Malia sat in Tracy's bed, just [staring off through her window](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_504_malia_pup.gif), thinking about everything that had happened. Thinking about how Tracy had killed her own father, therapist and had tried to kill Lydia's mom and her, while almost killing Lydia.

A small part of Malia couldn't help but think that she and Tracy had something in common. They had both flown into rages and killed people they had loved. Yet, Tracy had been thought to be innocent but had really been guilty while Malia had been thought to be guilty but really had been innocent. She knew that Stiles and everyone else would argue that it was the complete opposite and she shouldn't think about it, Malia couldn't help but feel like she could relate a little to Tracy.

Her vision finally broke free from the window and went off to the drawings and artwork that decorated the wall. They were all hand drawn, Malia guessed from Tracy herself. They were all completely random, people drawings, or of symbols, one had nothing but black scribbles strewn all over the paper. She sighed and moved to just leave when something caught her eye. It was book that seemed to be hidden underneath a pocketbook. Malia found a note saying that it was something that Tracy had asked for. A scary read. She lifted the note and gasped. It was titled: The Dread Doctors. But that wasn't why she gasped. The cover had an illustration of the three men in masks that Malia had seen at the station. The ones making the Chimeras.

* * *

Brett and Lori got over to Satomi's and found that everyone in the pack was already there. Among them, stood Ms. Ramsey. Every one there had a pained or worried expression on their face. But none's seemed more stronger than the Alpha herself. It was then that they realized that it was true.

Wilson, the Second of the pack and their good friend and surrogate big brother…was dead.

* * *

Lucas' body was lying on a slab in the morgue over at Beacon Memorial with Scott and his mother watching over it. Melissa was staring uncomfortably at him while Scott was just sad.

"I'm sure they'll come up with a reasonable explanation for the stingers in his arms," she said nervously. "I guess it's better than trying to explain a tail."

"Better than the truth?" Scott said glumly.

She sighed. "Maybe. This is the best we can do for now." She then moved to slide the body into the compartment and then closed the door.

Scott then began pacing off. "I should've done better. I should've known that this was going to happen. I should've been able to stop it."

Melissa nodded her head down before she slowly approached him. "You know, your grandfather used to have a saying about the word should. You know what you're doing when you say should too often? You're should-ing all over yourself." That made Scott nod his own head down but a small smile found its way to him. Her face fell serious again. "I know that I can't be the Mom that says 'I don't want you to do anything about this' Because you're always going to be involved. Because not only do you have the power to do something, you care enough to do it. So, all you really need is to ask yourself, 'What am I going to do?'"

Scott took a moment to think before letting out a deep breath. "I'm going to find out who did this, and I'm going to stop them."

His mother nodded and then she moved to leave the morgue. Scott walked to follow right after her and they turned the lights in the room off before leaving. Barely a moment after they left, someone new stepped into the morgue and started to go towards the compartments. Specifically for the one containing Lucas' body. It was Jordan Parrish.

Jordan had been with Lydia for a better part of the day until she had woken up in the late afternoon. Her mother had arrived and Jordan decided to go home and clean and rest himself up a bit, as well as let Lydia and her mother have some time together. He had decided to come back to the hospital later that night and was heading for her room. But, it seemed like his senses dulled and he instead made his way for the morgue. He rolled out Lucas's body and stared down at it with an emotionless expression on his face. Jordan reached over and took the body in his arms and then started to carry it out of the room and the hospital with no one seeing him. A faint fiery orange glow flickered in his eyes as he walked.

Soon enough, he reached the woods and was heading off to a clearing. One that held the Nemeton. [He placed the body on the stump](https://www.teenwolfwiki.com/files/~10821/79568-original.jpg) and his body began to flare up in flames. His flames started to spread and begin to envelop Lucas. Jordan's eyes stared as the body was fully covered in fire and began to burn away.

* * *

Liam lied in his bed that night, just staring out at his ceiling with his mind going a mile a minute. While he was a little freaked by those three guys in the masks he saw, Liam was thinking more about both Hayden and Lori.

He found out that Lori liked him. Really liked him and he had no idea while it seemed his best friend had. He probably should've seen it for himself. Lori was always nice to him to him back at Devenford and during these last six months whenever he hung around her pack. She even made him feel better with how he was feeling tonight and helped him have some fun. He wouldn't deny that he thought that Lori was cute and that she was also pretty cool. And she was a werewolf so he didn't have to worry about that coming between them.

Then there was Hayden. It seemed that she was always mad at him over something and it looked like she went out of her way to spite him for what happened back in elementary school. No matter how nice he tried to be to her, she gave him nothing but grief over it. A part of him felt nervous and intimidated when he was around her but he couldn't deny that he found himself drawn to her regardless. Hayden was pretty cute herself. And, from what he heard at the club, he guessed she was stressing over something and he couldn't help but wonder what it was.

Their faces started swimming before his mind's eye and Liam let his head slam back into his pillow as he sighed out in frustration. Everything was already feeling so complicated right now with these chimeras showing up. Now he didn't know what to feel about these two gorgeous girls. Or what to do. And he was getting frustrated, in more ways than one.

* * *

Stiles had woken up from his sleep to find that everyone was already gone. He checked his watch and saw that it was pretty late. Most people would be starting to get settled in for bed right now. It looked like he had been really tired. Stiles resolved to not let Wilson catch word of this. The guy had told him that he would burn out if he didn't get more sleep and he had ignored his advice. If he found that he practically dozed off in school for half the night, the next day, he'd never let him forget it. Stiles wouldn't if he was in his position.

He packed up the books he had left out and just walked out of the empty school and made for his jeep. The entire parking lot was empty. His jeep was practically the only car around. But, when he tried to start it up, it wouldn't.

He sighed. "Just great," he mumbled.

He opened his glove compartment for the roll of duct tape and pulled out the envelope he had found at home. Stiles had almost forgotten about it. He heatedly sighed as he grabbed the tape and made for the engine. He opened the hood and a full puff of smoke poured right out. The strong smell of burnt glue and plastic shoved its way into his lupine nose, nearly make him gag.

"Just what I needed!" he called out in frustration as he tried to blow the toxic smell out of his nostrils. But the smell lingered.

Stiles just sighed and he moved to start applying the tape. He noticed that there seemed to be a bolt that was a little loose. Grabbing for his toolbox, he pulled out one of his wrenches and moved to try and fix it.

Unbeknownst to him, Donovan was slowly heading for him. Blood smeared across his mouth and staining his fingers. He was feeling strong and confident right now due to his recent meal. Theo had helped to prepare him and make him ready for taking on Stiles and he was more than ready for this. He opened up his palm and willed a set of razor sharp teeth to appear in the middle like a mouth had formed in his hand and a smirk spread on his face where his bloodstained teeth were slightly visible. He kept his steady pace as he got closer and closer to Stiles from behind.

The smell from earlier was keeping Stiles from detecting the stench of blood and he was also feeling too frustrated for his instincts to pick up the incoming danger as his head was dunked in under the hood of his jeep. He finished tightening the bolt and set the wrench down. He reached for the roll of tape to prepare a strip to secure it when his eyes narrowed as he suddenly heard something.

Before he could react, he felt an intense pain as Donovan reached his jawed palm to Stiles' shoulder and had it bite down as hard and deep as he could. Stiles let out a [deep pained scream](https://i.gifer.com/QoW7.gif).

* * *

A/N: First, I want to ask if anyone has a good pairing name for Liam and Lori as I don't think anyone had ever given them one as I've never seen a story with the two of them as a pairing choice. I was thinking of either Liori or Loriam.

The next chapter will be a special chapter that will cover more about this day for a good many of the characters as there was too much to put in this one alone. I did set up some glimpses that will be continued on for Wilson, Charlie as well as Theo, Courtney and Donovan. Even a bit for Stiles, Malia and her dad, and for Cora. It will all tie in for what all comes next. Big things are coming and changing for everyone now.


	12. Thickening Plots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the attack at Sinema was in motion, Theo was moving to discreetly begin the next phase of his plan to quell the threats he was facing from both Stiles and his new ally, Wilson Grant. Oscar begins to make more moves in response to what he feels are new threats on the horizon. Cora goes to an actual party with a boy from school and Derek learns some things about Laura from Maggie.

**6:30 am**

The sun was starting to rise and shed some light outside the windows of Oscar's sitting room of his . There were three other betas in the room along with Charlie and his fellow beta Miles, standing around in silence. The scrapes and bullet wounds they got were now completely gone, as if they had never happened. Even after six months, the fact that he could now heal so well still through Charlie for a loop. The only bad thing was that even if the wounds themselves have healed themselves, some pain still lingered from what they had healed from like a hard ache. Charlie felt a bit sore in the spots where he had been bumped and cut by thorns during his run and he saw Miles was shifting his feet a bit, no doubt still reeling from getting shot in the leg, even if the wound was gone now.

Leaning off in a corner, looking out the window was Oscar. A passive look was on his face but the werewolves in the room could easily detect his disappointment He just stayed silent, looking out at the early morning light starting to peer out into the skies.

He then spoke out of nowhere. "I have to say, I am far from impressed with what I saw from you two. You were both caught and brought to heel, far from the safe point during a simple hunting exercise. Given the military backgrounds you both possess, I would have expected something far more impressive."

"Yeah we're fine from getting shot at too, thanks," Miles sputtered out.

Immediately, Oscar's face hardened and Charlie inwardly cringed. While he appreciated Miles' sarcasm, it was clear that Oscar, and a few of their fellow betas didn't. Before any of them knew it, Oscar came forward and clawed at Miles' face. Miles cried and crutched down, holding his face as Charlie jumped next to him.

"Still fine?" he asked, indifferent to what he had just done.

Miles had his hand over the left side of his face where some drops of blood were starting to ooze through the space in his fingers. He looked up at Oscar to see the Alpha flashing his red eyes dangerously at him. He took a breath and averted his eyes. "Ecstatic."

"What was that?" Oscar said stiffly.

Charlie knew what Oscar wanted and let his foot tap against Miles', making him look up at him. He widened his eyes down at him and tried to mentally tell him what Oscar was looking for. His former drill instructor pulled the same thing with his unit back in basic training. Miles cringed but straightened himself up.

"I'm well sir," he said in a sterner tone.

Oscar nodded. "Good. Now, either of you care to tell me what went wrong?"

Charlie decided to answer when he saw Miles hesitant to talk after what Oscar did to him. "We weren't prepared. We've never been through something like that before."

Oscar rose his eyebrows at him in disbelief. "What? I thought you army types always have skirmish drills like that all the time. It's the very reason that I chose to give the bite to both of you in the first place. What, were both of you at the bottom of your classes or something?"

Charlie was barely able to keep himself from rolling his eyes at Oscar's rant. First, gave them the bite? He didn't 'give' them anything, he forced it on them. Second, Miles wasn't in the army, he was in a military style prep school. Only he had been, which is why he was able to endure Oscar being a hard-ass. He was a carbon copy of his squad's drill instructor.

"Oscar, you took us deep into the woods, out of nowhere, with bags on our heads. You gave no explanation until we got there and then ripped them off to show us four men armed with sniper and assault rifles. You then tell us to run through the woods, unarmed, and get to the road if we want to live. Then those guys start shooting at us. That's not a skirmish you put us through, it was a straight up manhunt."

The Alpha didn't blink at Charlie's scolding tone. "Exactly," he said to both of their visible shocks. "A hunt. All part of your new lives as werewolves. Consider it practice for when the time comes when you meet real hunters. Only, they won't be as gentle as my associates were."

"Gentle?!" Miles cried out incredulously. He still remembered how his leg felt like it was on fire a few hours ago from the bullet that had been stuck into him. "You call getting chased and shot at in the woods with automatics gentle?!" Miles cried out.

"Watch your tone," Oscar lowly but harshly. He narrowed his eyes at Miles, making them flash red at him and Miles quickly found his insides shrivel up and shrunk back. "And as for your question, yes, I do call it gentle. The two of you have only been wolves for a few months. You've been spared so far, but let me tell you here and now, hunters won't be with either of you."

"Yeah, and that's if you're lucky," muttered a beta behind the two of them. "If you're not, they will spare you, and make you wish they didn't." He then went to move his hand over where his left ribs were. "I sure did."

That pain in his voice made Charlie want to flinch.

"He's lucky we were able to find and save him before they finished having their fun with him," said another beta. "Not too many other werewolves get that chance."

Charlie felt a chill run down his spine and it seemed that Miles was feeling something similar. Their alpha wasn't done with them yet though.

"Miles," he said, making all their attention fall back on him. "Your foolishness led you to being shot out there." Oscar moved but surprisingly went to stand in front of Charlie. "But you, you disappointed me the most."

"Oscar?" said Charlie, confused.

"When you saw that Miles was down, you should've taken the time to flee while he had given you the opening."

"And leave him behind? Soldiers don't leave their people behind. And aren't pack mates supposed to be the same?" he asked the alpha somewhat passionately.

And Oscar responded in kind. "Yes, but what did that get you last night?" That made Charlie's jaw tighten. "You ended up getting caught along with him. Had that happened during the real thing, the hunters gotten two wolves instead of one and the rest of the pack might not have had any warning maybe until the next one was ready to be taken. How would that have helped your other pack mates? Answer me that!" he spat at him. Charlie didn't say anything. He just glared on ahead and Oscar nodded triumphantly. "I thought as much," he smugly said at him. He then visibly sniffed the air and settled himself. "I know you hate me right now, and I don't care. The Alpha doesn't need to be liked, he needs to make sure that the pack doesn't die. I turned the two of you because I hoped you could help me do that. But, if you are going to help do the opposite, I'll kill you both myself. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," they both muttered stiffly to him.

Oscar then stepped into his personal office with his Second Dean, a very imposing looking man, behind Oscar himself, trailing behind him. He closed the soundproofed door behind him, as Oscar went to switch on some classical music to play on the speakers inside.

"Was that a little too much Oscar?" Dean lightly asked him as soon as the music came on.

Oscar went to sit down at his makeshift desk and spin his chair to face him. "What do you mean Dean?"

"The hunting exercise. Charlie and Miles actually did better than the rest of the pack did during their first hunting test. They lasted longer and got closer to the road than any of them, even myself."

"Yes, I noticed. It seems I did make a good choice turning them. Their military training and education helped them better than normal bitten betas. I can only imagine how they'll be after a few more months when they gotten a better grasp of their new abilities."

Dean still looked lost. "Then, what was all that back there?"

"If I sing praises for those army boys this early then they'll start growing lax, which I can't afford, especially now. Besides, their actions last night weren't all praise worthy. Brave as it was, Charlie still had made a stupid and foolish move during the hunting trial. Miles was as good as dead and he went and killed himself along with him trying to carry him away. Pulling off brave stunts like his might earn him a gold star, medal or whatever in the army but against hunters it could get him as well as the rest of us killed." Oscar suddenly stopped and took a deep breath. "Point is, I need them to stop thinking like good honorable soldiers and start thinking like hardened wolves. We're going to need them, sooner rather than later." Oscar turned to look out the window with a far off look on his face.

The change in demeanor made Dean start feeling anxious. "Oscar? Has something happened?"

"Not happened, _happening_. I've got some news from an alpha that I know in Vermont about a week ago. And again from some werewolves belonging to packs in Maine and Pennsylvania. Word is spreading all along the eastern seaboard that the hunter families and clans are starting to move underground."

"Underground? You mean, they're going into hiding?" That was a switch as it was usually the werewolves that needed to go underground, not the hunters.

"That is the leading theory at the moment. A handful of hunters had recently caught some heat from the feds. Arrested and taken into custody during some surprising raids."

"How? Why?" Hunters weren't usually that sloppy.

"I have a hunch. You know that after the battle at La Iglesia in Mexico over six months ago, the Calaveras were taken into federal custody, right?" Dean nodded and Oscar continued. "Well, it seems that they were released about two weeks ago, well at least that fossil Araya, her nephew Severo and a handful of others. Well, most of the Calaveras' assets and holdouts were stripped and seized, not to mention they've been put under surveillance. Hunting wasn't supposed to really be an option for them anymore. But, they were tracked moving east before suddenly just dropping out of sight."

"Let me guess, around a week ago, when many of the other hunters started going underground," Dean piped in.

The Alpha pointed right at him, telling him he was spot on. "It's no coincidence. Some think they're all trying to lay low together until all this federal heat blows over-"

"But really they're likely planning something," Dean finished for him.

Oscar nodded, happy with his Second's deduction. "Exactly. Which is why I need to bring the hammer down and accelerate my plans of expanding our pack's power. Two of these new recruits were a good start but I need more."

"The old lady find any more potential recruits?"

"No, she hasn't found anyone as of late. I don't expect her to find more anytime soon as I had sent her to look into something else for me. The situation to the west."

Dean stiffened. "What is the situation?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But, I will say that it is escalating. And, it could be the push that is needed to give me the opportunity of a lifetime. If so, then we need to have the upperhand. Speaking of-"

Dean quickly nodded. "Don't worry Oscar. I already have someone working on the Hales for us right now. They'll confirm if your suspicions about the child's father are true or not."

"Good. It would be so much easier if I could get Maggie to confirm it for me. I'm sure she already knows the truth herself. Yet, even though she's apprenticed under my emissary, I can't trust her. She's too taken with Derek Hale and close with his sister to risk them. Just make sure that your man is discreet. The Hales are naturally distrusting and if they get wind that I'm prying then it could drive them away and I need them close."

"Yes, I know. Don't worry, I have it under control."

While the door was soundproofed and the music drowned out anything prying lupine ears could hear on the other side, the room's vent still left a small opening for what was being said to be heard through a vent grate in the bathroom. That someone being Charlie.

* * *

**7:15 am**

Malia woke up that morning to a pleasant smell drifting through the air and went to the kitchen to see that her dad had a small stack of pancakes ready on the table. He was at the stove, over a pot that had strips of meat sizzling on the surface. The smell of it made a small satisfied growl escape her throat and that caught his attention.

"Hey sweetie, good morning. How'd you sleep?"

"Not very good," she bluntly told him.

"With how you looked when you came home, I figured as much." When Stiles had dropped Malia off, he saw how upset she was. She hadn't said what was wrong and he didn't push. But, he hoped that Malia would feel well enough to tell her after she had slept and had a good breakfast. "That's why I decided some pancakes. When I was your age, after I had a crappy day my father would go and place a stack of vanilla/nutmeg pancakes with a side of bacon in front of me the next morning."

She nodded before looking at the meat still cooking. "That's not normal bacon, is it?" It smelled different to her. A good kind of different.

"No." He smiled fondly at her. "It's deer."

She returned his smile before running over and pulling him in for a warm hug. "Thanks dad," she said into his shoulder. That made him squeeze back a little harder.

Soon after, they were both sitting at the table, enjoying the pancakes and Malia scarfed down the deer bacon strips. Henry also moved to grab two strips for himself. He had to admit that deer wasn't so bad, when it was properly cooked of course.

"You feeling better?" he asked her after half her stack was gone.

"A bit," she sighed out.

"I heard that something happened at the precinct on the news. Some kind of an attack and a prisoner got out. You were all there, weren't you?"

"Yeah, we were."

Malia then moved to slowly explain everything that had happened since the night of Senior Scribe. From the attack by the werewolf with talons, to Tracy and her serpent tail attacking them at the vet clinic and at the station. She then told him how she had encountered those three men in the masks who had appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared. Though, Malia found that she wasn't able to tell her dad about how Tracy had been ready to kill her. She didn't exactly know why she was leaving it out, just that she didn't want to say anything about it.

Henry was silent and didn't interrupt Malia while she told him everything. His heart almost dropped when he heard about Tracy Stewart's tail and her power to paralyze people with a single strike. And the fact that she had done that to his daughter and her friends before taking off and attacking more of her friends at the Sheriff's station. He knew that all this supernatural stuff could get...insane. Everything that had happened in the last year had more than proven that. But this seemed to be on a whole other level, and his daughter seemed to again be in the thick of it. When she was talking about heading for the station, Malia had stopped in her story for a moment, before she started to talk about running into those three men in masks. He could see that something about that encounter had frightened her.

"Unbelievable," Henry muttered after she was done. "Just when I thought things couldn't get any crazier around here. Is Lydia going to be okay?"

"I don't know. She lost a lot of blood. They had to send her into surgery."

Henry let his gaze fall a bit before he rose his head back up. "How is everyone else?"

"Terrible," she said before she moved to shove another piece of deer bacon into her mouth. "Scott and Kira are feeling upset. Liam is scared. Theo seems to be trying to keep himself calm."

She then trailed off for a bit and Henry seemed to notice a name missing.

"And Stiles?"

Malia moved to stare down at her plate as she absentmindedly swirled a piece of pancake over a drop of syrup over and over. "He was...angry. And anxious. I'm getting a little worried."

Henry nodded in understanding. "Well I can't say I blame him for being anxious or angry, given what happened to his friends and his father last night."

But Malia shook her head. "No, it's not just last night. He's been like this for a while now. Since before we left for the summer, he's been really anxious about something. I can always smell it all over him. Whenever we're together. When we're at school, riding in his jeep, or sleeping together in his room. I've been trying to help but he still has trouble sleeping a lot of the time."

Henry took a moment to try and block out any visual images of Stiles in bed with his daughter. He thought about the timing, and he quickly guessed what this might be about. "Uh, I can't say that I'm surprised sweetheart. You're all seniors now. It's natural and normal for some teenagers to be feeling that around this time."

The confusion was plain on Malia's face. "What do you mean?"

"This is the last year all of you can be like this. Once the school year ends, everyone goes off and begins their separate new lives in the world."

"Yeah, Stiles was worried about wanting everyone to still be together. He told me he has a vision."

He sighed to himself. Henry did like Stiles. Yes, he was a little different, even without the werewolf thing thrown in, but he thought that it made him a good fit for Malia. He couldn't have asked for his daughter to have had a better first boyfriend. Yet, he knew how it would all likely end.

"Well, maybe the reason Stiles is getting more anxious and aggravated is because he's starting to find out that his vision is not going to be as easy or simple as he hoped it would be."

"Why?"

"Well, for starters, his best friend has been struggling for the longest time to keep his grades, so much that he went to summer school to help raise them. Scott can't get a scholarship so worked an internship at the hospital to help get college credit but he still might not be able to make tuition for Davis and his mother is thinking of selling the house. Kira is juggling between a school close to her boyfriend and a school close to her family. Lydia is overwhelmed with options and might choose one that is far away from everyone."

"How do you know all that?" Malia cut in. It felt like he knew more about her friends than she did.

He smiled sadly at her. "We parents talk to each other almost as much our kids do. And there is an even bigger issue that Stiles is having trouble dealing with."

Her heart dropped. "What?"

"That he might have to leave girlfriend behind." He sighed when he saw his daughter's eyes widen. "Malia, I know you've been working hard to catch up with school, proud of that by the way, but do you really plan to go to college?"

"Uh...I don't know." She looked down and tapped her finger against the side of her plate.

"Sweetie, please, you can be honest."

She shrugged. "Not really."

Henry nodded. "And I can get that, kind of. I mean, spending half of your life as a coyote out in those woods, you don't really know where or how you want your future to turn out. But Stiles, he does want to go to college. He's been working on it for so long and all his work has given him more than his fair share of choices."

And Henry knew that Stiles did have his share. The Sheriff had told him about the opportunity that had come for his son in the mail a few days before school started. Apparently, Stiles had been offered both an academic and lacrosse sports scholarship to Georgetown University. A full ride to one of the most impressive universities in the country. Apparently, someone had put his name down and given them their recommendation to review Stiles as a potential student. They had sent a school representative during one of Beacon Hills' lacrosse games a few months ago and had been impressed with Stiles' healthy level of play and looked at his academics. Yet, the Sheriff knew that Stiles was looking into UC district schools so that he could be close by his friends and Beacon Hills, or Malia. With what was happening, he was sure that the Sheriff hadn't found the right chance to tell Stiles but he knew the man would have to do it soon. Henry knew that a chance like this didn't come along often. And he knew that his daughter cared too much for Stiles for him to give it up for her sake.

He continued. "He has an idea for what he wants for himself after high school, but I think he's beginning to realize that you don't, if he hasn't already. Stiles is probably worried that you'll feel like he's leaving you behind if he goes off to college. But he does want to go and doesn't want you to feel like you're making him have to choose between you and his college dreams."

Malia quickly straightened up. "I don't want him to have to give up any of that for me," she said quickly.

"I know sweetie," he said back quickly. "I know."

But from his own graduation experience, he knew that it was highly likely that it just might not be an option.

* * *

**2:45 pm**

Liam and Mason were walking out of their last class together and headed out in the hallway which was slowly filling with other students as classes were starting to end for the day. Liam moved and stopped in front of his locker while Mason was checking his phone, looking eager and expectant.

Liam noticed how Mason's mood seemed to have jumped. "Mason?"

"What are you doing tonight?" his friend asked him suddenly and excitedly.

"Why?"

"You're coming out with me to Sinema tonight."

He closed his locker door and looked over at him. "Sinema? That club you were talking about before?"

"Yeah. I just got the green light to go and I can bring a friend. So, you're coming with me."

Liam sighed. "Uh, Mason I don't think I can right now."

"Why not?"

"Uh, maybe because there are werewolves running around with snake tails and giant talons."

That made Mason blink a bit. "Yeah, but didn't you guys already stop them?"

"Two of them, but there are still more of them out there. You saw the holes."

"Yeah, but there's been no sign of them or any new attacks?"

"No, but we still need to find them." Liam started to raise his voice up a bit and his breathing quickened. "And there's still those guys in masks Malia told us about. Okay, we have to find them before more people get hurt."

"Whoa." Mason held a calming hand out at him as he took a nervous look around at the nearby people. "Calm down."

Liam took a deep breath. "Yeah...sorry. It's just, these guys Malia told us about, I think I might've seen them before."

"What?" Mason quickly gasped out. "Where?"

Liam let his back lean against the lockers and rested his head into the metal. He then started to tell him about the nightmare he had a few nights ago. Of seeing animal carcasses splattered everywhere with parts of the bodies missing. And then seeing a wolf of mixed limbs, as well as other...things made up of animal parts sewn together. Then of the three metal men that were with them.

"And you really think it was them you saw?" Mason asked him.

Liam nodded. "Yeah. And the last time I had a dream like this was right before Scott and Kira were kidnapped and taken to Mexico."

"Have you told them yet?" Liam's silence was all the answer he needed. "Maybe you should."

Liam bounced the back of his head from the locker at that. He knew Mason was right. The last time something like this happened. he had stayed quiet. But, would Scott listen to him? What was he even supposed to say? He was worried because he had a nightmare that may have included these masked men? Before he could dwell more on it two kids, a girl and a guy, came into his sights. They came over and stopped next to him and Mason. Liam knew the girl. She was a junior and had noticed her in the halls a couple of times.

"Hey you're on the lacrosse team. It's Liam, right?" the girl asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm Gwen," she said to him. "This is Michael," she said introducing her friend. "Do you know where Scott is?"

He immediately straightened up. "Why?" he asked, his tone a bit defensive. After the last week, he was feeling quite tense and alert.

"Well, the two of us want to try out for the lacrosse team this year. We would've gone to Coach Finstock but he's..."

"Gone," Liam finished.

Everyone knew the story. Coach had relapsed and started drinking again before school ended last semester. He had left to go back to rehab.

"Yeah, so that's why we need to find Scott. We know you hang around him a lot so I was hoping you could help us out."

"You want me to talk to him about helping with you with tryouts?"

"Couldn't hurt," Michael chimed in. His tone then started getting a bit spiteful. "Seeing as how we already tried talking to him and got nowhere."

Liam narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"A few days ago, Gwen and I went up and asked him about how we could make the team and he told us to meet him on the field after school to see what we can do. And he completely blew us off." He seemed to get a little pissed at the end. Even Gwen seemed a bit aggravated.

"What?" Liam was shocked.

Michael's jaw tightened. "We must've waited at the field for an hour. He never showed up. Probably was laughing about it."

That didn't sound at all like Scott and was about to accuse them of lying. But then he thought of what Michael said about the timing. It sounded like this happened right when 'chimeras' started showing up. "Hey, I'm sure Scott didn't mean to do that. He's kind of been a little busy lately," Liam said to them.

Mason ducked his head down to roll his eyes. "Understatement," he muttered to himself.

Liam had heard him and gave him a small kick at his heel. "Look, the point is that Scott probably got sidetracked and just forgot about meeting with you guys."

"Well can you help talk to him this time?" Gwen asked him. "If we want to get a shot of making the team then we need his help. He is the captain after all."

"Co-captain," he corrected.

"Co-captain?" Gwen repeated back. "Well, who's the other one then?"

Liam turned to share a look with Mason.

Stiles and Malia walked through the doors and he checked his watch and saw that there was just about ten minutes until his and Malia's next class. He was a little worried they would be late as after they left the hospital, they took a detour to Lydia's house to get bestiary.

"So, we're meeting with Scott and Kira in the library after our last class," he said as they walked down the halls together.

"Yeah, I know." She looked down at the book in Stiles' arms. "Do you think there might be anything in there about the men in masks?"

He doubted it. Stiles guessed the bestiary had as much about the masked men as it did about werewolves with talons or serpent tails. "Maybe," he shrugged.

They crossed around a corner and their eyes lit up when they saw Liam heading right for them with Mason and two others kids, a guy and a girl, that they didn't recognize.

"Stiles, do you have a minute?" he asked as he came up to him with everyone.

"Why, what's up?" Stiles asked as he looked at each one of them.

The girl stepped around to face him. "I'm Gwen, this is my friend Michael," she said pointing out the other one before looking back at him. "You're the other co-captain for the lacrosse team, right?"

"Yeah, I am?" he said a little slowly.

"We were wondering if you could help us."

Stiles straightened up. "How can I help?"

* * *

**3:00 pm**

"Hey Lori."

Lori looked away from her locker to see that her brother Brett was going over to her, separating from some of his lacrosse teammates.

"Brett, hey, what's up?"

"You doing anything tonight?"

"No, not really. Why?"

"Well, I'm heading over to Sinema later tonight. I was wondering if you wanted to come with."

"To Sinema?" Lori was surprised. Brett hardly ever invited her when he went off to go clubbing. Not that she minded. It wasn't really her scene. "I don't know."

"Liam's going to be there," he said in a sing song like tone.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up," she grumbled at him. "You don't know what you're talking about."

He then burst out laughing. "Oh come on. It's pretty obvious you're crushing on the guy. Hell, even Mason saw it when we were off with them the other night.

Lori moved to run her hand over her face. "Oh god," she said, feeling embarrassed. She then moved to close her locker and began to head on out.

Brett followed along beside her. "Relax, I'm sure Liam is clueless, not surprisingly." He mumbled that last part. "Look I don't see what you find so appealing about that IED. You could do way better."

She stopped walking and turned to face him. "What, you rather I go for one of your airhead teammates?" she countered. Brett made a show of looking like he was considering it and Lori moved to give his shoulder a whack. "Liam's a great guy, and you know it, even if you don't want to admit it Brett." That made her brother stubbornly look off the other way. "He tried to help his friends save you when those two assassins tried to kill you, even though you were a complete ass to him before and during the game. He didn't need to do that, but he did. And he helped save our whole pack shutting the Deadpool down. Would any of those friends of yours done that?" Lori then smiled. "And I've always thought he was a little cute."

"Lori," he pleaded.

She kept going. "These last six months though, he's gotten even hotter. Especially right after training, how his bare muscled arms and legs glisten. Those tight cheekbones and pecs and abs when they peak out from under his shirt," she sighed out dreamily. "Then there's his butt."

Brett quickly moved to cover his ears. "La, la, la, la! Okay!" he said, trying to drown out her words.

She laughed a bit at her brother's antics before the both of them sobered up a bit after a moment.

"So, are you coming?" he asked her again. "Mason said he was going tonight and he was going to try and bring Liam too."

"Really? After all that, you're still inviting me?"

"I still think your taste in guys could be better but...I suppose it could be worse. If he shows up, you could go and get him alone and then try and make your move."

She silently considered it for a moment before she nodded. "Alright, I'll be there." She then snorted. "And I wouldn't be so judgmental. Your taste in girls or guys is hardly something to be proud of." Lori shook her head and took off for the exit to the parking lot.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he said, going after her.

"Figure it out, if you can."

"Ooh, nice comeback,' he threw at her.

"Yeah, I thought so," she shrugged.

"Seriously?" they both heard suddenly. The two wolf siblings stopped and looked over to see Wilson walking over to them with him shaking his head and his hands resting on his hips. "Can I ever have one time where I meet you two at school and you're not already fighting or end up in a fight?"

"No," they said together nonchalantly.

He shook his head at them amusingly before his expression got serious. "Listen, are the two of you going out tonight?"

Brett nodded. "Yeah, we going out into town. Might meet with Liam and his friend Mason later." He threw a playful look Lori's way which earned him a small shove with her elbow. "Something up Wilson?"

"Maybe," he sighed out. The grim feeling he felt earlier as he was heading into the school coming back to him. "Just keep your chins up, especially when you are around Scott McCall's pack."

"Why?" Lori asked, concerned.

"With everything going on with these strange shapeshifters appearing, we can't let our guard down. And, it seems that they Scott and his pack are in their sights right now, but there is a chance they might also target us soon enough. So watch out for anything that looks or feels out of place."

"In this town?" Brett threw in skeptically.

"Even for this town. Trust your instincts and theirs if they flare up."

"Okay," they both nodded.

They moved to head out the door but Wilson followed after them.

"One last thing," he said making them stop to look back at him. "You guys ever meet that new guy hanging around their pack. Theo, I think his name is."

"Uh, no but Liam has mentioned him," said Lori.

Brett nodded. Liam had told them that he and Stiles had followed him into the woods which was how he had found the hole Tracy had dug herself out of. "Why?"

But Wilson shook his head. "Nothing. Don't worry about. Now go, I think your friends are waiting," he said, pointing his chin out.

Lori and Brett turned and they quickly spotted their group of teammates and friends gathered and patiently waiting off at a corner of the parking lot.

"See you later Wilson," Brett said as he and his sister started to head off.

"Yeah, be safe," he told them.

"We will," said Lori before they started to go into a small jog to meet with everyone.

Wilson spent a moment watching them go before he looked out at the parking lot. The feeling that he had felt out here before still bothered him. It was like he was being watched and stalked. And he still felt a small tingle of it now.

As he headed back inside, a girl was tapping her fingers along the top of her steering wheel, watching him. She then grabbed her phone and moved to send a text.

* * *

**3:30 pm**

Stiles watched as Gwen began to run for the goal to try and get the ball passed Liam, who was helping him with the tryout. After hearing their story, Stiles told Gwen and Michael that he would see what they could do then and there if they wanted. They both said yes and he told them that he would meet them on the field after he changed. Since it would just be them, he couldn't give them a full tryout but would see how they fared on their shots. Stiles also covered for Scott with them and explained that he wouldn't have meant to ditch them but had been called in to work and must've accidentally forgot to tell them, which he knew was more or less true considering everything that was happening. He gave the bestiary to Malia and asked her to explain to Scott and Kira that he would be by a little later.

Gwen's shot had managed to slip through Liam's block and hit the net. It had been her fifth attempt and Stiles nodded.

"Nice shot," he said to her afterwards.

"Really?" she panted out as she ripped her helmet off.

"Yeah, really. It's not easy to get passed Liam, right?" he said looking over at him.

"Definitely," Liam said back with a small grin.

Her previous four tries, though she didn't score, they had been pretty close. To score against a werewolf with speed and sharper reflexes wasn't easy but Gwen did. They may have just found a good new addition to first line.

"What about me?" Michael called out from where he stood. He sounded a little nervous and both the wolves could smell how anxious he was.

Michael had gone before Gwen, shooting a set of five against Liam. He hadn't managed to score one goal where three of his shots had been caught by Liam. As for his other two, one of them he had made hit the post and the other overshot and flew over the goal. But, he'd seen worse. He and Scott had been worse. With a bit more work, Michael could end up being a pretty good player.

"You're actually not too bad," Stiles answered sincerely. "You just need to work on your aiming and control when you shoot. With a little more practice I think you might have something." Michael's eyes brightened up a bit. "I'll talk to Scott for when we can hold the official tryouts for the team. But, until then keep practicing because we'll be watching out for you guys. Especially you Gwen."

She smiled widely. "Thanks. I can't wait to go and tell my sister."

She and Michael then moved to grab their stuff and head out leaving Stiles and Liam watching after them.

"Not bad there co-captain," Liam said to him.

"Co-captain," Stiles repeated almost to himself.

Him, co-captain of the team. Even after six months, he still had some trouble believing it. It seemed like only yesterday when his place on the team was to warm the bench. Him and Scott, co-captains. Who would've thought it? He sure wouldn't have.

Liam saw that Stiles seemed lost in thought before he suddenly let out a big yawn out of nowhere. "You okay?"

"Huh?" he gasped as he moved to rub at his eyes. "Uh, yeah. I'm good."

"Have you been having trouble sleeping lately?"

"I always have trouble sleeping," Stiles shrugged but he noticed that Liam seemed bothered. "Why? Have you?"

"Uh well, kinda," he admitted a bit awkwardly. "Forget it, it's stupid."

"Liam, I can feel how worried you are. What's going on?" asked Stiles in concern.

He didn't want to sound like he was being silly, worrying about some nightmare, especially with so much going on right now. But, last time something like this happened, Stiles hadn't thought it silly or stupid. He'd taken what he told him seriously. And Mason had said he should try tell the others about it. Maybe he could trust Stiles.

"Well, you remember how I told you about that crazy dream I had before Scott and Kira were kidnapped?"

Stiles nodded. "The one with the nemeton?"

"Yeah, well, a few nights ago, I had another one. It felt just like the other one had, and its been freaking me out."

"You saw the nemeton again?"

Liam shook his head. "No, but, I think I saw the three that Malia ran into at the station."

"The men in masks?" Liam nodded. "What did they look like?"

Liam then began to tell him about the three he saw and it seemed to match Malia's description. And Liam had this dream before they first appeared. Stiles guessed that Liam's instincts must've sensed danger coming for the pack, like before, and was trying to warn him about it. He then told him the other details of the dream and from the sound of it, it seemed like these masked men might be the ones 'making' these supernaturals. And, when Liam told him of the wolf he dreamt, made from parts of other wolves stitched together, he felt a hard chill run down his spine.

"What do you think it all means?" Liam asked him after he was done.

"I'm not sure." _Yet_ , he silently added. "But we have to keep our eyes open. Thanks for telling me about this Liam."

He nodded. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, Scott, Kira and Malia are waiting for me back at the library. Why don't you go home?"

"Can't I go with you?"

"We're just going to be going over the bestiary and other lore. C'mon, it's Friday night. Don't you have anything planned?"

He shrugged. "Well, Mason invited me to go with this club tonight."

"Awesome, go."

"No, I should stay and help."

"You've helped out enough. Go and have some fun."

Liam let out a heated sigh but found himself nodding. "Alright."

* * *

**4:00 pm**

Theo was making his way into the Doctors' lair to go and retrieve Donovan. Courtney was trailing behind him, giving the place a nervous look over.

"This place is beyond creepy. Maybe I should go back and wait in the car," she timidly suggested.

"It's fine," he said dismissively to her. "We'll be in and out. It's just around the corner." He then stopped and turned to face her. "It'll be okay, I promise," he said gently and almost affectionately to her.

She took a deep breath and then nodded. He then headed off into the lab with Courtney a step behind him.

Theo had to admit that he was surprised that Courtney seemed content enough to listen to him without much hesitation or resistance. He felt that was because he not only made her feel strong and significant with this new change but she also found him attractive. Tracy seemed to had been the same way before she was eliminated. Tracy and Courtney were both cute but not really his type. Still, he would milk the loyalty it got him for all it was worth if it helped him get what he wanted.

After he staked out Devenford with Courtney earlier, he had left her there to keep watch. He warned her to stay far enough away to not be picked up by any of three werewolves who were around. She followed his orders to a T and sent him a text warning him that Wilson Grant had thrown his name out to the two beta kids that went there. If he wanted to avoid having more werewolves on his back then he had to move forward with the plan.

As they stepped through the lab, Courtney's eyes fell on a plastic capsule to the side, filled with a bubbling green liquid, and had a person inside it. "Is that guy dead?"

He stopped and gave the guy a small look. "No, but he's really alive either."

"Who is he?"

"Oh trust me, you don't want to know. Now, come one. He's just through that door."

Yet before they could take more than one more step, Courtney gasped out as the three doctors stepped into the room from the three different ways in. The Pathologist came in from where they did, the Geneticist came out from the room ahead and the Surgeon stepped out through the door at the top of the stairs. Courtney looked scared but Theo remained calm and rose his hands up as he looked up at the Surgeon.

"It's okay. I'm just going to borrow him for a bit," he told him.

The Surgeon tilted his head at him before he looked up at Courtney. "You already have one."

Theo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I need another one. And its not like you're using him anyways," he said,[ turning to look at the others](https://i.giphy.com/media/JJxV37Y4d9sNG/giphy.webp). "Keeping him strapped to a chair. Or any of them."

He faced both the Geneticist and the Pathologist before turning to look back at the Surgeon but jumped slightly as the doctor was now just a few feet from him. Theo tried to not to be so intimidated in front of Courtney but he still looked a bit nervous. The Surgeon just stared at Theo for a moment before he looked over at Courtney. She started to back away but had gone right into the Pathologist, who moved to hold her still as the Surgeon approached her. He tilted his head at her while she breathed quickly and deeply.

"Her condition appears stable," he grunted out in his muffled voice. He then turned to look at Theo. "Do as you wish."

"Thank you," he said with a glare. He then looked over at the Pathologist. "Do you mind letting her go now?"

The Pathologist released her and she quickly moved over to stand behind Theo. The three doctors then slowly began to leave the lab and head out into the tunnels.

"Can we just grab him and get the hell out of here now," Courtney gasped at him.

Theo moved for where Donovan was still bound in his chair, still sweating and shaking a bit but he seemed to settle when he laid his eyes on him. At a nod from Theo, Courtney began moving to unbind him.

"Let's go," Theo said to him with a calm smile. "It's time to grab you a bite to eat."

* * *

**6:30 pm**

Cora was standing out in the backyard of a fancy house that was filled with dozens of teenagers, a good many she had seen from school. She couldn't help but feel that she just stepped into a cliche party scene in any teen movie. There was a pool with some people swimming around and there was booze everywhere with music filling the air. She turned around to see Ruben heading to her with a cup in each hand.

"Here you go," he said as he handed one to her.

She looked down at the punch that she could smell was spiked with some scotch or vodka. Cora went and took a sip and felt a bit of a buzz as it went down her throat before vanishing in a moment as her healing factor kicked in.

"I'm glad you decided to come," Ruben told her before moving to take a sip from his cup.

"Well, the jury is still out on how I feel about it," she slurred out.

Ruben snorted in his cup. "Funny and cute, wow."

A small smile cracked its way through her hard exterior. "So, how'd you hear about this party?" she asked, trying to make some conversation.

"Oh, I pretty connected around here, Well, the basketball team was invited and I've known most of them my whole life. And the guy who lives here, I tutored him in history last year. Managed to help him get his grade up almost a whole letter."

"Wow, those are some connections," she said as she moved to drink more from her cup.

"Yeah...well I'm kind of hoping to make a new connection tonight. Maybe you could help me with that?" he asked suggestively.

She rose her eyebrow at him. "Does that line usually work for you?"

"First time," he said with a smile. "So, what's your story? Where'd you move here from?" he asked with a small smile.

She wasn't in the mood to talk about herself but Ruben wasn't prying. He was simply curious. Cora could understand that. After all, she was the new girl that no one knew anything about in a school filled with kids who've known each other for many years.

"California." she muttered.

"Cool. Like Los Angeles or San Francisco?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing like that. Just a small little town. I doubt you would've heard of it."

"Why your parents move you here?"

At his question, Cora's jaw tightened a bit. "No, it's just me and my brother." Memories of her mother and Laura came back to her and she felt some old pain slipping through.

Her being upset must've been obvious because Ruben quickly became apologetic. "Oh, I'm sorry if I said something wrong," he quickly told her.

But she stopped him. "No, no, it's alright. You didn't know."

The air around them got awkward as Cora moved her gaze off to see a guy from the basketball team scream like an idiot before he ran to throw himself in the pool with all his clothes on and make a big splash.

"Uh, well let me make it up to you. Can I walk you to school on Monday?"

She looked over at the hope that stirred up in his eyes and scent and she found herself nodding. "Sure."

Back at the loft, Maggie was making soft cooing sounds over the baby basket set up in the middle of the living room. Little Jason Hale was laughing and gurgling at her and she was smiling and laughing in kind. She then lifted her head to look over at Derek, who was staring hard-faced out the tall windows to the side.

She rolled her eyes at his back. "Are you just going to stand there and sulk all night long?"

"I'm not sulking," Derek said lightly, not moving his gaze from out the window.

"Well I know you're not being taken by the view." She could practically see him roll his eyes through the back of his head. "Derek, stop being a complete sour puss," she said in slight amusement.

That made Derek finally turn away and look over at her. "Really? You have to call me that?" That was too close to what a young annoying, spastic boy liked calling him. A sour wolf.

Maggie rose her eyebrows at him. "It got you to finally look away, didn't it?" she pointed out. She then sighed and smile tiredly at him. "Relax, Cora will be fine. It's just a party. I happen to know that you went to them all the time back home. Laura," she explained further.

"Which is why I'm worried. She went with a boy," he argued back.

"So?"

Derek narrowed his eyes at her. "So, I think I have a good reason to sulk. Considering what happened the last time Cora was off by herself with a boy."

Right then and there, Maggie picked herself up from where she was kneeling and folded her arms at him. "You make it sound like she snuck off behind your back and got knocked up on purpose. Derek, she was grieving, hurt and left alone for days. That wasn't her fault, was it?" she said pointedly.

Derek deflated and stared hard, back out the window. He knew that Maggie was right. That hadn't been Cora's fault. Boyd had just been killed and the two of them had been close due to their time being held captive by the Alpha pack. She was hurt and Stiles was her only source of comfort which she had thrown herself to. He should be able to relate and had no right to judge her. After all, he'd done the same thing with both Kate and Jennifer when he had been hurt and grieving. At least Stiles had genuinely cared about her and wanted to help while Kate and Jennifer were just using him.

Maggie then let a sigh as she had no doubt hit an old sore spot. "Derek, I'm sorry," she quickly muttered.

He cut her off. "No, no I deserved that."

"True, but…just try not to sulk around Jason so much. We wouldn't want him to pick up any of his uncle's bad habits. Isn't that right Jason?" she asked the baby in a low, teasing tone while she moved her index finger to tickle at his stomach.

Jason responded with a high pitched laugh as she tried to grab at her finger with his left hand. She laughed with how cute he sounded and looked. For her, Hale men always seemed more handsome when they were calm and happy rather than sad and sullen.

Hearing his nephew's laughing made the tension Derek was feeling abate a bit. "Traitor," he muttered under his breath, as a small smile was cracking through. But he then went back to staring out the window with a concerned look on his face.

She stood up and headed to stand next to him. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Cora isn't the only thing you're worried about."

He sighed and moved to go and sit down on the couch. Maggie moved to throw herself beside him.

"I got a call from Scott earlier. He and his friends are having some trouble back in Beacon Hills. Unusual trouble."

She nodded. "Yeah, the strange shapeshifters. Last night, Alan Deaton called and told me about them."

Derek perked up at the news of the town vet and pack emissary. "He called you?"

"He's leaving Beacon Hills to investigate some old rumors about unusual shapeshifters that popped up over twenty years ago in Russia. He thinks there might be some clues that might have answers to what is going on in Beacon Hills. He contacted me to find out how to get in touch with Zeke Astor."

He narrowed his eyes. "Zeke Astor? Wait, as in...Riley Astor?"

"Yeah, his little brother."

Derek vaguely remembered Riley. He had been around 13 when he had first met him. It had been the first time he had ever seen a Garuda. He remembered thinking that it was one of the coolest things ever to see a guy sprout wings and take to the sky like a bird. Riley had always been nice to him though he guessed it helped that he and Laura had dated soon after they had met. But, he had been killed, a little over two years before the fire.

"How old is he now?"

"He's twenty. Last I heard, he was going to college somewhere around Washington."

"Is he like his brother?" he softly asked. Maggie nodded. Zeke was a garuda too. "What happened to him?"

"After Riley died, Zeke was placed in the foster system. They were all either had left." She turned to look out towards the windows. "When you two first came here after the fire, Laura wanted to reach out to him."

"She did?" He didn't know that.

"Yeah. Asked for my help too and together we found him after a year of looking. But, Zeke wasn't in the best of places when we did. He seemed to be always getting into trouble. Running away and bouncing around from one foster home to another."

"And what does Deaton want with him?"

"Turns out one of the shapeshifters that Scott and his pack brought down had talons. Riley's talons."

"What? How is that possible?"

"When Riley was killed, his killer went on and tore his wings and talons from his body and took them."

Derek let a small growl loose from his throat. Ripping body parts from a victim after killing them. That sounded like someone taking them for a trophy. He could only think of one set of people that would do that. "Hunters?"

"That's what Laura thought. That's why Zeke was acting out. He wanted to find his brother's killers and make them pay. Laura wanted to help him in any way she could so she stayed in contact with him. Called him and sent e-mails whenever she could. It seemed to make actually start making a difference with Zeke. He started to get better with his home life and gradually start settling a bit. And Laura...I think it helped her not only get better after the fire, but start moving passed an older and still painful chapter of her past. At least until..."

She didn't want to finish but she didn't have to. Derek understood. Until her death.

Derek started shaking his head. "I had no idea. For five years...why didn't Laura ever say anything?" he said in a small voice.

"You were kinda going through a lot back then."

"Like I always seem to be," he said a little resentfully. First with Laura and then Cora. His sisters go through hard and emotional pain right in front of him and he was so caught up in himself and his own problems that he only seemed to notice theirs long after its too late. "Typical."

"Hey." Maggie then went to put her hand on his shoulder. "Derek, you're trying your best to try and take care of Cora. I can see that and I know if Laura and your mom were here, they would agree with me. But, while I can't speak for your mother, I'm pretty sure that Laura would say that you would do even better if you went and finally got over yourself."

Derek let a small chuckle break free from him which made Maggie laugh a bit herself.

"Yeah, you're probably right." He then moved to smile at her. "Thanks Maggie."

At that, he went to engulf her in a tight hug. For a couple of seconds, they thought nothing of it. But as it dragged on, Maggie began to lean into the feel of Derek's strong arms wrapped around her and rub her hands up and down his strong back. As for Derek, he started to take in the smell of the maple scented shampoo in her hair and the feel of her soft skin as her face rubbed against his neck. The two of them slowly pulled their faces away but still had each other in their arms. They just stared, keeping their eyes locked on to one another for what could've been a minute or an hour. Neither Derek or Maggie looked away until they suddenly found themselves getting pulled back towards each other. A sudden bout of crying rang out when their noses were an inch away from each other and they snapped apart.

"Uh, what's wrong Jason?" Maggie said moving over to him.

Derek wrinkled his nose. "I think he needs a change," he coughed out.

* * *

**7:30 pm**

The halls of Devenford were pretty quiet now. Any and all student clubs and activities were over and the students had gone home, to enjoy their friday nights. He was the only security guard left on duty so it fell to him to make sure that the school was closed up and secured for the weekend. Wilson was going through the halls, making sure the offices were locked and the lights in the classrooms were off. His footsteps echoed through the empty halls as he walked through them. As he turned a corner, he stopped when he heard the sound light steps being made. He guessed there was still a student or two still around.

"Hello?" he called out.

No one responded, but he heard those steps moving along the halls, a bit fast paced. It sounded like they were running. He moved to go after them and came upon the stairs around where the sound stopped. He didn't see anyone around. Or hear anything. He let his hearing expand and he could hear a soft, steady heartbeat sounding somewhere on the floor above. It seemed whoever was around was trying to be silent, not even move and could feel a hint of amusement drifting through the air.

Now Wilson was getting impatient. "I know there's someone there," he called out. "If this is a joke, it isn't funny and it's over. Come out and let me see you." Nothing happened but Wilson could still feel someone there. "I won't be asking again. If I have to come after you, I will," he called out.

There was suddenly a whip of air behind him and Wilson's flashed gold before he turning around but saw no one there. There was someone else. Someone fast. And Wilson began to feel the same presence from the woods last night, before he ran into Stiles. He narrowed his eyes before throwing his hands down and brought his claws out. But as Wilson turned around, Donovan, the one who had been hiding on the floor above, quickly descended the stairs and threw himself at Wilson from behind. But, Wilson threw himself to the side and they got nothing but air. He had felt the attack coming and dodged it.

"Nice try," he growled as he stomped for the young man. Wilson grabbed Donovan at his collar and yanked him to his feet. "Who are you?!" he demanded.

Donovan didn't answer but his eyes flew from Wilson to over his shoulder. Wilson noticed and turned around to find Courtney running for them, revealing her as the one that had ran behind him. Once Wilson looked over at her, Donovan bared his sharp teeth and bit at Wilson's hand holding him. He roared out in pain as he let him go and pulled himself away. Courtney had her long needle claws out and moved to swipe at him but Wilson bared his pain and ducked out of the way before sending his palm right into her side and knocked her off her feet. Wilson took a moment to look at his bleeding hand where he could see the bite marks dug into it and looked up to see that blood was dripping from Donovan's lips.

Courtney got back to her feet and move to stand next to Donovan and they stared the werewolf down. Wilson glared at her, as he realized that she must've been who he had been tracking last night.

"Who are you two?!" he growled.

The two of them didn't answer. Courtney simply extended her hands to show the sets of long, thin claws on both of them. As she did, Donovan showed his sharp teeth and a hole opened at the side of his neck where a set of teeth showed themselves before it quickly disappeared again. Wilson resisted the urge to gasp in shock at them. He had his answer. He grunted as he fully shifted and roared hard at them.

The two young chimeras flinched at the sight and sound of a real werewolf in front of them and Wilson took the moment and charged for them. The two of them tried to claw and land a blow on him but Wilson proved more than formidable. While the chimeras had the advantage of surprise and numbers, Wilson had the advantage of experience and greater strength over them. Also Courtney and Donovan were still not quite used to their new powers yet. They threw themselves at Wilson, overwhelming him a bit but their strikes were either hitting air or just grazing him when they did connect. Wilson rammed Donovan and threw a hard punch at him with his injured hand before he ducked from Courtney's attempt to claw at his face. Her claws missed and cut right into the drywall, leaving four thin lines cut into it. Wilson quickly threw a hard kick at her leg, making her cry out in pain before he grabbed at her head and threw her back, making her slide a few feet down the floor.

Donovan felt a tingle in his hand and saw that a set of jaws appeared in his palm. He huffed as he got to his feet and charged for Wilson, trying to go for the werewolf's face. Wilson reached up and grabbed at his wrist, stopping his hand a foot from his face. He thought he'd seen a lot since becoming a werewolf but was still thrown at the sight of teeth in the palm of a hand. He looked down to see Donovan smirk at him before he brought his palm down to grab at Wilson's wrist. He held on tight to him as his teeth bit right through to the bone. Wilson gasped out in pain and tried to pull away but Donovan hung on, determined to make sure he couldn't get away again.

Donovan snarled at him as he could feel the werewolf's flesh and blood pouring into him from his hand. "Mmm, tangy," he breathed at him.

Wilson glared at him before he used his other hand to swipe at Donovan's face. The boy cried out as he felt the pain of his face being clawed and jumped back, letting Wilson go. Wilson backed away slightly, using his hand to apply pressure to where Donovan had just bitten off a chunk of his wrist, with the jaw in his hand. Blood was leaking from his wound and dripping onto the floor like a leaky faucet. He tried to flex his fingers but it proved difficult and painful. Courtney had gotten back up and rejoined Donovan's side as they started to slowly walk for him, like predators stalking a wounded gazelle. Courtney rubbed her claws together, in a manner he'd seen in his favorite Freddy Krueger movies, while Donovan brought his bloodied palm out with the jaws still in the middle of them. He started to slowly back away, down the hall. Wilson didn't think he could beat them like this, not with only one good arm. The best thing he felt he could do was get away and hold himself up somewhere so he could focus his energy and strength on healing himself.

He then turned around, ready to begin running, but stopped when he saw someone behind him. It was Theo. His head was down but he began lifting it to reveal that he was fully shifted. In his surprise, Courtney had run up behind him and dug her claws straight into his back and piercing right through him. The ends of her claws were poking out right through the front of his chest. Theo grunted and bared his teeth before he moved and swiped his claws right across Wilson's throat, splattering his blood across the the nearby wall. Courtney then pulled her claws away and Wilson fell to the ground in a dead heap.

Neither of the three knew that, in that moment, his death was felt in the hearts of every member of his pack, including Brett and Lori at Sinema, during another Chimera's attack.

Theo looked up over at Donovan. "Dig in," he told him.

Donovan's eyes flashed a pale white before he went and dove right for the body with his teeth bared out.

* * *

**9:30 pm**

Ruben was walking into his home after having dropped Cora home first. His mother was the only one home, with his father still not home from work. She greeted him as he came in and asked if he had a fun time and he smiled and nodded at her. He had a small smile on his face all the way inside as he headed off for his room. Yet, once he stepped into his bedroom, his face fell when he saw that there was already someone there. He was sitting at the edge of his bed, just waiting and he rose his head as he entered.

"Nice night Ruben?"

"Dean," he hissed. Ruben quickly moved to close the door, in case his mother was able to hear anything. The last thing he needed was to stumble upon having a stranger in his room, especially a werewolf stranger. "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking on your progress." He then moved to stand. "You were with the Hale girl tonight, right?"

"Yeah, I was. I took her to a party."

"And? Did she say anything about herself."

"No, not really."

"She doesn't suspect that you know about her? About what she is."

He shook his head. "No."

"Is she

"She's been a little hesitant but after tonight I think she's slowly starting to warm up to me. I'm walking her to school on Monday."

Dean nodded. "That's good. Don't let up. Steadily make her comfortable and gradually feel that you are safe to open up to. Let me know if she ever says anything about her home life or her family."

He headed off for the open window, so that he could go and leap out of it, but Ruben stopped him.

"Dean, what is the big deal about this girl?" Dean stopped and turned slowly to look at him. "Not that I'm complaining," he said quickly, worried that he had upset the guy. "Cora's cute and I am kinda into her, but why do you want me to spy on her? Can't you do it? I mean, she is one of you, right?"

"That's none of your concern Ruben. The only thing you should be worried about is keeping an eye on that girl and nitpick at news about her family, especially on her son and who the father might be. Understand?" he said a little harshly. His tone made Ruben shrink back a bit and Dean gave it a moment before he smiled calmly at him. "Hey, relax. Everything will be fine. And remember what is waiting for you if you succeed. Your reward if you help me and my pack."

He finished with a flash of his blue lupine eyes before he went and threw himself out the window. Ruben ran over to the window but saw no sign of Dean anywhere. He let out a deep sigh and pulled his head back in.

* * *

**10:00 pm**

Theo was hiding off in a distant corner of the school grounds, but he had a good view of the parking lot where Stiles' blue jeep was parked. Next to him was Donovan, with his lips still stained with the blood from what was left of Wilson Grant's corpse. Donovan went and ran his fingers at his cheek, amazed to feel smooth, unblemished skin. The scratch ohe'd gotten from the werewolf during the attack had healed itself away, with not a trace as if it didn't happen.

Donovan looked down at his watch, seeing the time. "We've been standing out here for almost an hour. Where the hell is he?" he asked impatiently.

"Probably still in the library. Scott told me that was where they all were when he left earlier."

"Well what the heck's he doing in there for so long?"

"Calm down." Theo kept his eyes out on the parking lot and the front entrance through the whole of Donovan's rant. "He'll be out soon. Just wait a little bit longer."

Donovan let loose a small growl under his throat as he went to lean his back against the wall. "Whatever."

"You still doing okay?" Theo asked, not in concern for Donovan's well-being, but for the sake of the plan.

Donovan's lips curved into a predatory smirk. "Okay? I'm doing great. The pain and the shakes are all gone."

"That's not surprising. Wendigos are always at their strongest right after they've fed on human flesh."

Donovan looked down at his hand and clenched it into a hard fist and opened it again. "And I feel even stronger than I did before."

Theo cracked a small smirk. "That's because you fed on the flesh of a werewolf. Feasting on a shapeshifter's flesh can not only give a Wendigo back their strength but increase it. Like they say: We are what we eat. You're now much stronger than you were before."

Donovan saw a fanged jaw appear in his palm and he then moved to clench his hand, before he slammed it into the nearby wall. It left an indent the size of his fist and he smiled as he found that he barely felt a thing. "Then I can't wait to see how much stronger I'll get after I chow down on Stilinski's pathetic, idiot son." He could still feel his blood pumping from the fight with the security guard. Feasting on his flesh was invigorating and Donovan could feel his mouth water at the thought of chomping down on Stiles' flesh next.

Theo finally broke his eye contact on the entrance to narrow his eyes at Donovan starting to drool. "Don't underestimate Stiles."

Donovan sucked at his fanged teeth. "I'm not scared of him."

It looked like Donovan was feeling overconfident and Theo knew that would spell trouble. "You should be. He's a whole lot smarter and tougher than he looks or acts." _'Which is what makes him so dangerous'_ , he silently added.

That made Donovan glare at him. "What are trying to say?"

Theo rolled his eyes. "Stiles might be more than you can handle, even with you juiced up, that's what I'm saying."

"Screw you," Donovan spat at him, fully enraged at what Theo just said to him. "And you know what, screw all this sneaking around. I'm done waiting. I want Stiles now and if he's not coming out, then I'll go and get him in there."

Donovan expected Theo to argue with him some more, so he was truly surprised when Theo just shrugged.

"Fine. You don't want to listen to my advice, that's cool." He then dug into his pocket and pulled out his student ID. "Here. The library should be closed so you'll need this to let you in."

Donovan blinked but then moved and yanked it out of his hands. "Just don't get in the way. He's mine."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Enjoy." Theo then got up and moved to head on off.

"Oh, I will," he mumbled after him before he focused back on the entrance. "Every single second of it."

Yet, barely a moment later, the door starting to open and Donovan ducked into the shadows to see that Stiles was walking out through the doors, stretching a bit as he let out a yawn.

' _Really? Now you decide to show up?'_ he thought to himself in annoyance. But, it didn't matter. He would soon have what he always wanted. Ultimate payback for everything Stilinski had done to him and his father. On his palm, a jawed hand appeared, fangs sharp and watering for more werewolf flesh.

Stiles let out a small yawn before rubbing at his somewhat stiff neck. He still feeling a bit groggy from having passed out on the table for a few hours. As he loosened himself back up, he started to recall the strange dream he had while out.

He had been going through the woods, just wandering around aimlessly for what seemed like forever until he came face to face with a wolf. It had been different from the wolf he had seen and dreamt before. Not hulking or shaggy furred but smaller and its fur was sleek and well groomed. but it didn't make him feel worried or scared at all. It wasn't his 'wolf', something about it screamed female to him. It had just stood there, staring at him, and he had just stared right back. His honey brown eyes not once leaving its eyes as it went and [shined a red glow](https://66.media.tumblr.com/9f21361f66e7a3801409ec90e3a6c711/tumblr_pw6kdzxREo1vsvti5o1_500.jpg). Staring at those eyes, Stiles had found himself feeling safe and content that he had lost track of how long they had been doing it. Only a beam of light hit them did Stiles finally break his gaze and look up. He saw that it was from the full moon and he realized that it had gotten dark. He then turned to find that the wolf was gone. Stiles stepped over and saw that it had left four paw prints dug into the dirt. They were filled with water, and he saw the light of the full moon reflected in them. That was when he had woken up.

Odd dream but at least it wasn't a scary one. He guessed that hearing about Liam's dream might have triggered it or something. But now, all Stiles wanted to do was just get back home and started for his jeep.

From where Theo had hidden himself, he could see that Donovan was moving to follow Theo's original plan to sneak up on Stiles. Donovan kept himself out of sight, watching as Stiles tried starting his jeep and then became frustrated as he went to open the hood and get hit with the smoke and smell of the burnt tape glue. Theo had gone and loosened one of the bolts earlier to set all this up. Not only would it keep Stiles there and distracted but it would keep his nose from picking up Donovan's scent as well as the smell of lingering blood still on him. As soon as Stiles was hit with the smoke, Theo saw Donovan begin to step out of his hiding spot and carefully move for him as Stiles was distracted. Theo smirked at Donovan's actions. First the guy wanted to throw his plan away and now he was following it to the letter, Theo would laugh if he wasn't worried that Stiles would hear him and blow this whole thing. But, right now, he would just stand back and enjoy the show.

Donovan closed in on Stiles as he brought out a wrench and was bent over his jeep's engine. He carefully moved in, trying not to do anything to alert him. Stiles was clueless as to what was about to happen as he saw the kid set the wrench down and grab a roll of duct tape. He didn't see what Theo was so worried about. Stiles seemed as stupid and pathetic as he always looked to him. Donovan raised his hand and slammed it down at the back of Stiles' collarbone, quickly tasting his sweet lupine flesh and blood.

Stiles let out a hard scream that echoed in the empty parking lot and his eyes flashed a very bright blue hue.

* * *

As the Dread Doctors moved along their hidden frequency after terminating Lucas, they suddenly stopped when they felt something pass through the air. They found themselves back in normal space, in the middle of an empty street. The three of them turned as one and looked out in the same direction. The Geneticist and Pathologist then turned to look at each other while the Surgeon kept staring ahead.

"That was a power shift," said the Geneticist. "It is close."

"There are two subjects close by," The Pathologist said back to him. "One is Subject 1."

The two of them then looked away from each other, back towards the Surgeon.

"What does this mean?" asked the Geneticist.

The Surgeon kept his poise before he looked down at the hilt of his cane and then tightened his grip on it. "A possible solution."

With that the Surgeon started walking off in a steady pace to the school. The other two following half a step behind him.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the same time, Cora was calmly reading a book for her English class in her room. She had gotten home over two hours ago from that party with Ruben. She had to admit, it wasn't…as bad as she feared. She wouldn't say she had a fun time, but it wasn't a terrible one either. Ruben had asked if he could take her out again sometime and Cora told him that maybe he could.

Right now, it was just her and Jason in the apartment. Her son had been sound asleep by the time she had gotten back home and had been put in his room. Derek had gone to drop Maggie off at her home and a small part of Cora was hoping that she wouldn't see her brother until sometime tomorrow though she knew it was highly unlikely. She knew her brother too well and she knew that Maggie didn't want to risk making the first move. Regardless, she would keep her fingers crossed.

Cora suddenly jumped when there was a loud bout of crying from Jason's room. It had come so unexpectedly and Cora's heart stopped, thinking that something was happening to her son. She dashed off and practically threw herself into the room, not knowing what to expect. The room was empty, nothing seemed wrong, but Jason was still crying his lungs out in his crib.

"Shh," she hissed out as she moved to pick him up. "What's wrong baby?" she asked him soothingly.

Jason just kept crying, even when Cora rocked him in her arms which always seemed to normally settle him down, he just kept wailing. As she rocked him, Cora's eyes fell over to the window, at the crescent moon outside, and she couldn't help but feel an urge to cry herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I apologize for how this chapter took longer than usual to get up. I had to rewrite several parts of it quite a few times before I was happy with it. I hope you find it was worth the wait. I will try to have the next chapter not take as long. After all, it comes with the clash between Stiles and Donovan. It will be slightly different, considering that Stiles is a werewolf now, but it still won't be easy for him, physically or emotionally. I also have a little moment between Liam and Lori planned following the aftermath of Wilson's death.


	13. A Novel Approach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles clashes with Donovan which ends in a bloody way. A new mystery comes the pack's way but they may find a clue with a surprising source in Eichen House. A new victim hits Satomi, her pack, Liam and Stiles hard.

Stiles' scream rang out through the empty parking lot as he felt the teeth from Donovan's jawed palm digging into the back of his shoulder. His eyes shifted and let off their blue glow as he tried to pull himself away but Donovan pushed him against the hood of the jeep, pinning him down. Blood and bits of Stiles' flesh begin to get sucked into his palm and it felt just as sweet and quenching as the werewolf security guard he feasted on before.

Donovan leaned in close to him. "Your flesh tastes even sweeter than the last werewolf I ate," he grunted.

Donovan would prove to Theo that all his worry and doubt was garbage. It didn't matter that Stilinski's kid was a werewolf. He might've needed help with than one werewolf from before, but he was now strong enough to pin Stiles all by himself. He didn't need any more help, especially from Theo. And after he ate this spastic runt, he would become even stronger. Strong enough to get rid of that rip off and eat Theo's smug face and tear those three masked men that tortured him and kept him locked up apart. No one would get in his way ever again.

Stiles tried to throw him off, but Donovan's tempered strength was successfully keeping Stiles pinned and his other arm flailed around helplessly, failing to reach for Donovan to make him let go. Through the pain, Stiles detected the smell of blood and dead flesh when Donovan breathed on him. Flesh and blood of a wolf. Stiles' eyes flashed blue again, but even brighter than before, spreading a bit out from his irises. His claws broke free and he went drove his hand back and struck at Donovan's thigh. The shock of the claws digging into his own flesh made Donovan hiss in pain and loosen his grip on Stiles, and Stiles quickly noticed the wrench he had used just a moment ago. He moved to grab it with his other hand and quickly swung it around and struck Donovan in the face, sending him down to the ground.

"Ahh," Stiles hissed after he hit him.

The strike sent a tremor up his arm, right to where his shoulder was wounded, and the shock of pain nearly made him drop the wrench. He quickly moved his opposite hand to it and quickly felt the stickiness of his blood and a small chunk of flesh missing through his torn shirt. The brightened glow from Stiles' eyes dimmed back to normal as he hissed where his fingers touched the cartilage in the center of the wound. At the edges, he felt the marks from…teeth. Stiles removed his hand and watched as his own blood dripped down from his fingers, to the pavement. But his eyes quickly went back on Donovan who was standing back up and turned to face him.

There was a grunt as Donovan stirred as he moved to get back to his feet. Donovan moved his other hand to his head where he was bleeding from a cut that he had gotten from getting hit with the wrench. "Bitch," he hissed. "Guess it must run in the family."

Stiles' blue eyes widened as he saw the rows of fangs peeking out from his mouth. Fangs that he recognized belonging to a Wendigo, with his lips and the corners of his mouth stained with blood. But that wasn't what was widened his eyes, it was the bloodied palm with the fanged jaws in the center of it. Donovan's hand was covered with his own blood and he was sure that he was seeing the teeth in his palm moving. Stiles had never seen or heard of anything like this. It sure hadn't been seen on any of the Walcotts.

' _Chimera_ ,' he thought to himself, realizing what was happening.

Donovan ran for him, but Stiles moved to meet his incoming punch with a block. When Stiles blocked him, Donovan went and threw himself at him, forcing Stiles to fall back flat to the pavement with a pained shout. The wound on his back burning and bleeding more intensely.

"I don't usually like to play with my food." Donovan smirked down at Stiles' pained face, his sharp teeth making him look extra monstrous. "But I have to say, I'm really enjoying it."

Stiles looked up and saw that Donovan was lowering his jaws to bite into him. He then quickly jammed the wrench, that he was still holding, right into Donovan's leg, slightly stabbing into his upper left thigh. Donovan screamed as he rolled off him.

"How about now?" Stiles hissed as he threw himself to his feet.

Donovan moved to yank the wrench out of his leg and threw it off to the side before looking over to see that Stiles was running for the school. He let out a frustrated growl and started to quickly limp on after him.

As they disappeared into the building, Theo moved out from his hiding space and went over to where they had just been. He spotted the discarded wrench on the pavement, slightly smeared with some of Donovan's blood. He smiled as he thought that could prove handy later on and grabbed it. He then quickly moved to follow and keep his eye on them.

Barely a minute after he took off, three figures slowly stomped over and stopped in front of the spot of blood left from Stiles' wound. The Surgeon went and pulled out a small syringe pump and moved it over to the spot of blood. He pulled on the plunger and began to collect as much of the blood that he could.

Donovan threw the school doors open and gazed down the dark halls but seeing and hearing no sign of Stiles anywhere. As he turned his head to the side, [a jaw appeared at the side of his throat](https://66.media.tumblr.com/3f086f59a0680b59f8386972409eaca1/tumblr_nrswsyBdhj1qixosbo3_500.gif) and it seemed to give him a better taste of the air. Stiles' blood hit him and the mouth soon disappeared. After it did, Donovan turned to look down a hall and started to limp down it.

As Stiles ran down the halls, he could feel the pain in his shoulder intensifying. He needed to find a place to hold up and heal. He found himself heading for the library. It was close by and he knew that its automatic doors would only open for someone with a school card. Plenty of places to hide and hold out too. It was perfect. He made it there and yanked out his card to swipe and then he quickly threw himself in. He went to lean against the librarian's desk and went to reach at his back. He found his shirt and had been torn through and pulled his hand back to see it wet with blood. Stiles ears perked up when he heard Donovan's stomps heading his way. He heard the guy stop in front of the library's doors and a moment later a beep from the card reader followed by the doors unlocking. Stiles ducked into a dark corner as Donovan opened the door and strolled on inside.

As Donovan moved to pocket the card, he decided that he wouldn't dwell on the small degree of help that Theo had given him but he would never tell him that. Not when he was going to go and finish Stiles off. The library was quiet and there was no sign of him anywhere, but Donovan knew he was here. It was so quiet that when a call came from Stiles' phone, the buzzing echoed slightly through the room.

"You dropped your phone," Donovan called out as he went to take a look at who was trying to reach Stiles. "It's Malia. Should I text her back?" he sarcastically asked out before he pocketed it. "You don't really know who I am, do you Stiles? Maybe you heard about my father. Did your dad tell you about him?" His tone started to get louder and angrier as he spoke. "Did Sheriff Stilinski ever tell you about the time he was still deputy and how his partner got caught in a shoot-out?! Did he tell you a bullet shattered my dad's T-9 vertebra?! Went right through his spinal cord? Know what that means? It means that everything below his waist is useless. And not just his legs. I bet he told you some of it."

[From his hiding spot, Stiles grit his teeth](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/HappygoluckyCompleteArizonaalligatorlizard-small.gif) as he began to smell the growing scents of resentment and bitterness leaking out of Donovan. The guy was right about one thing, his dad had told him some of what had happened. It was back when Donovan had failed his psych evaluation for the academy, and he had raised his first fuss about it. Stiles' dad and his old partner were on the trail of a handful of suspects in a small drug ring and chased them to a building in the warehouse district. His dad called for backup and suggested they wait but Donovan's father was too eager and went in without wanting to wait. That ended up with him getting shot.

But as Donovan kept going, it was clear to Stiles that he had his own version. His own twisted, hateful version.

"But I bet he probably left out the part where he was sitting in a car, calling for backup, while my dad went in alone. Did he tell you he was too scared?! Too much of a frightened little bitch to go in after him?! Or do scared little bitches not tell their little bitch sons about their failures?! About how they put their partner in a wheelchair for the rest of his LIFE?!"

Stiles felt his anger bubbling over him as he gripped his hands into tight fists. It was so tight that he claws dug into his palms and caused him to cut himself and blood started to flow. He looked down and saw the red drop on the ground and he took a deep breath and smelled the fresh scent of blood. His eyes softened as an idea came to him.

Donovan felt good, unloading everything that Stilinski had done to his family against his son and he was waiting for a response. But there was no reaction from any of it. Stiles was staying in hiding. He moved up the stairs to see if he was hiding upstairs. As he stepped through the top floor, he extended his hands out and both his palms sprouted fanged jaws to taste the air. He could taste the lupine blood in the air, but it wasn't coming from up here. It was coming from below. He quietly moved down the nearby banister and climbed down, moving through the shelves towards the smell. He smirked hungrily as he went and thrust his hands through the books to grab Stiles on the other side and grabbed nothing but air. He stuck his head through the shelf and saw Stiles wasn't there. His nose twitched and he looked over to the side to see some heavy bits of blood smeared on the bottom of the shelf. His eyes widened as he realized he had been tricked. He pulled his head out just in time to be see a shifted Stiles roaring and charging for him.

The two of them toppled out of the bookshelves and began rolling around until they pulled away from each other when they got to the center of the room. Stiles glared down at Donovan and let a small threatening growl loose from his throat. Donovan took a moment to stare properly at the teenage werewolf before he bared his own teeth out. His eyes went white and met Stiles' sapphire gaze. A moment later, they ran for each other.

Through the library's grand window, Theo was watching the events going on from the shadows. An amused smirk was plastered on his face as he watched Donovan throw a punch at Stiles chest, who retaliated with one to Donovan's nose. He had to admit, this was proving more entertaining than he thought it would. Things looked pretty close between them. Consuming Wilson Grant had given Donovan the boost he needed to go toe to toe with a werewolf on his own. Still, in the end it doesn't matter how this fight turns out, either outcome will help him with his plans. Still, he couldn't help but feel some part of him rooting for Stiles to emerge as the victor. He then moved to twirl the wrench he was holding a bit.

After getting a good kick at his side, Donovan stumbled back and let out a frustrated groan. He brought his hands out at his side with his palms facing out. Both of his palms then sprouted out fanged jaws and they seemed to start making chomping movement, as if hungering for fresh meat. Donovan ran for him, sticking his palms out, trying to grab at him. Stiles grabbed at Donovan's wrists, pushing on them as he struggled to keep Donovan's hands from grabbing onto his face. They started stumbling around, Donovan pushing on Stiles as he backed away, trying to keep himself getting bitten from the fangs in Donovan's mouth and palms. His back hit the scaffold, making some of the metal bars on the top jingle a bit as Stiles cried out from the impact.

Donovan smirked. "Don't worry, I won't eat all of you Stiles. I'll leave some pieces behind and I'll send them to your dad, one piece at a time. Your dad will wish he was dead, and once he does, I'll grant his wish and eat him too."

At the thought of his dad being mauled and torn apart by Donovan, Stiles let out a hard, angry growl. The claws on his hands began to grow in size and began to pierce into Donovan's wrists. Now Donovan made a pained cry of his own, and his legs buckled. Stiles then spun them around and pushed him hard into the scaffold, which made the stuff on top jingle even more, with a small metal pole begin to stick out a bit.

"You Won't Touch Him!" Stiles barked out in a deep voice that sounded almost nothing like his own.

Donovan quickly slammed his body right into Stiles, forcing him back a pace, before Donovan grabbed onto a bar from the scaffold, and used it to lift himself up and throw his two feet right into Stiles' chest. Stiles stumbled back and fell to down to his knees. Seeing his intended prey down, Donovan climbed up the scaffold a bit and then leapt off, with his jaws bared, the ones in his paws included, yelling as he flew right for him. Stiles lifted his head, showing his face had shifted into an even more bestial version, and his blue eyes shined as bright as they did before. In that moment, Donovan gasped and his form faltered. From the floor, Stiles leapt for Donovan with a hard roar and hit the chimera with a hard, fierce punch to the face. The force of it was so strong that Donovan flew off and crashed right into the scaffold. The impact made the whole structure jump and all the metal poles and equipment nestled on top began to topple and fall off.

Stiles landed on his feet and quickly rolled away to avoid getting hit by the falling debris. He covered his face as some dust started blowing his way but he could still hear the sound of the metal hitting the floor. But, he then started smelling fresh blood, and a lot of it. When the sound of falling poles ceased, he then slowly rose to his feet and turned around. He had kept his eyes closed until he finished turning around but if he had opened them earlier, Stiles would've seen the bestial wolf shadow he was casting on the floor. His face slowly shifted back to normal and his claws retracted as he saw that Donovan was suspended slightly from the floor, a metal pole piercing his chest. He could hear the sounds of his gurgling blood at his mouth and moved himself over to face him. Donovan's eyes flew down to him, glaring at him, as blood began oozing out from his mouth. Stiles just stood there, still breathing hard, watching Donovan and listening to the sound of his heart faltering. Eventually, the beating stopped. Once it did, the nerves in Donovan's body relaxed and he was no longer moving. [Blood and mercury](https://media.giphy.com/media/nTeCKrNuirv0Y/200.gif) started to freely flow down the pole to the floor.

Stiles kept staring, feeling a wide and everchanging chain of emotion, and he didn't know how long it was for. Yet, when he finally managed to pry his eyes away, they went off to the side where he saw the phone at the librarian's desk and he went and ran for it.

"9-1-1, please state your emergency," he heard in the receiver. The dispatcher repeated when there wasn't any response. Stiles only breathed, letting it be heard to show that there was indeed someone on the line. "This is 9-1-1. This line is for emergencies only. If you do not have an emergency, then please hang up." But Stiles kept silent and kept the call on.

He then heard a different voice. "You want me to send a car out? What's the address?"

"It the school. Beacon Hills High," the dispatcher said back.

After that, the call disconnected. Stiles sighed heavily as he went to hang up the phone. He turned to look back at Donovan's impaled body before he made his move to leave before the police got there. He opened the door but quickly moved to leave a book to keep it barred open as they would need a school card to open it. Stiles then remembered that Donovan still had his phone and he moved back to him, to his body. Stiles avoided looking at Donovan's face as he moved to his pants' pocket and got it back. He saw that Malia was trying to call him back but he moved to cancel her call. He had to get out of there.

But Stiles went and looked back up at Donovan's face and saw that his eyes, his lifeless eyes were staring right back at him, with the glare lingering. Blood was also starting to pool down on the floor where the pole was thrust into the floor. He grit his teeth as he felt his pulse quicken a bit and he moved to run and get out of there as fast as he could. He ran out of the main doors and got to his jeep. In the distance, he could hear the distant sounds of a police car coming. He knew that if he tried to get away from the school now then he was sure to be spotted fleeing. And he couldn't have his jeep stay in the center of the parking lot as the deputies all knew what his jeep looked like. He was so consumed with nervous thought, that he didn't realize that the wrench he dropped before, as well as the small mess of his spilled blood, had both disappeared from the pavement.

Stiles quickly fixed up the pieces that were still loose in his battery and then shut the hood down before throwing himself into the driver's seat. He managed to back up and move his jeep into a dark corner before shutting his car off, just before a squad car pulled in. He was breathing quickly, letting his head drop and rest against his steering wheel as [he tried not to let himself lose it](https://data.whicdn.com/images/190421420/original.gif) right then and there. He couldn't be seen or caught there. His hands were still stained with blood and he was still bleeding a bit from the bite wound in the back, at his shoulder blade. He carefully watched as the car parked in front of the school and the deputy headed on inside. He nervously tapped at his steering wheel, alternating between muttering to himself and looking at himself in the mirror. He then saw the deputy coming back. He let his ears focus and listen to what he was saying.

"I'm 10-97 and there's no one here. It's a 653," he told dispatch.

"Roger that. Prank call. Return to your patrol."

Stiles widened his eyes at that. How could he think it was a prank call? Did he not find the body?

As soon as the squad car pulled away, went and got out and ran back inside. He got to the library and saw that Donovan's body was gone. Not only was it gone, but the blood and fallen metal bars had all been cleaned up. It was like nothing had even happened in there. Stiles blinked before he looked over at where the bars had been stacked neatly against the scaffold. He moved to one of them and ran his hand on it. He felt something and pooled back to find a single drop of Donovan's blood, still fresh.

What was going on?

* * *

Cora was cooing at Jason as she held the babe in her arms. He had been crying hard for the last ten minutes and wasn't showing any signs of stopping.

"Jason, what's wrong?" she said when it was clear that trying to cheer him up wasn't working. "Why are you crying so much?"

Cora wished that she could detect what was wrong with her senses but babies were different from adults or even teens and children. Their chemo signatures were always all over the place. It was hard to really detect what was wrong. It seemed that being a werewolf didn't give any advantages to this part of life.

Jason kept wailing about despite his mother's attempts. But then, he suddenly stopped. Cora was thrown at how Jason seemed to be settling down on his own. It was as if whatever problem that Jason was facing or feeling seemed to have abated all on its own. He then moved to snuggle against his mother's warm hold and Cora went to rub a soothing up and down motion along his back as she held him.

"It's okay," she told him. "It's over now. You're here with mommy."

But what was over? That's what Cora wanted to know.

* * *

She had called twice but Malia was still not getting an answer from Stiles. She had to tell him about the book she found at Tracy's. She looked down at the book in her hand, her eyes glued to the cover. The men in masks now had a name: The Dread Doctors. Stiles would want to know this as soon as possible, yet he wasn't answering her calls. He couldn't still be sleeping in the library at school, could he? Maybe his phone was off? That could be it. She wondered if she should try going to Stiles' place and check up on him. No, if Stiles was home then he was probably trying to sleep and she didn't want to disturb him. He had been pretty tired tonight and didn't want to bother him. If anything, she would catch up with him and the others tomorrow. It was best that she had back home. It looked like she had some late-night reading to do.

* * *

Scott was resting on his bed, his arms around Kira, but was having trouble getting to sleep. After leaving the hospital, he and Kira had gone back to his place to try and rest. But Scott's mind was still on what happened tonight at the club. Those three men in the masks, they had to have been who Malia had been talking about. They had shown up and killed Lucas, so quickly and casually. 'His condition was terminal'. That was what the man who killed him had said. And they called him a failure. What did that mean? Then there was what happened with Kira.

As soon as his thoughts fell on Kira, she had begun to mumble in her sleep. Scott rose his head and looked at her in worry as she was mumbling in Japanese. He was sure that Kira didn't speak Japanese. Just like he was sure that Kira would never go and try to kill somebody. If Scott hadn't stopped her, Kira would've driven her sword straight in for Lucas' heart. What was going on?

Before he could decide what to do, his phone started beeping. He reached for it, making Kira snap out of whatever dream state she was in as she turned to look at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

Scott saw that there was an intruder alert sent to his phone. "It's an alarm at the animal clinic. I think it's a break-in."

* * *

Stiles made it back home and was relieved to find that his dad wasn't. The last thing he wanted to do right now was explain why there were tears in his clothes and spots of blood on them and on his hands. He quickly ran up to his room and pulled off his ruined shirt, feeling it peel off from where it had stuck to his skin. He stood in front of his mirror and turned around to look over at his back. He could see that there was still a small piece of flesh missing there from when Donovan had grabbed him. It wasn't bleeding anymore but there was dried blood over a good upper part of his back. Where he was bit looked like it might take a while for the flesh to regrow and the wound to fully heal as he could still feel some stiffness in his arm now that the adrenaline from his fight had worn off. He quickly stripped the rest of his ruined clothes off and threw himself in the shower.

For a few minutes, [Stiles just let himself stand under the showerhead](https://data.whicdn.com/images/210460516/original.gif), letting the hot water run down and wash out the blood that clung to his body. As he looked down, he could see the traces of blood begin to move down the drain as it came off. He then started squirted every inch of his body with scented soap and body wash to try and remove any trace of the smell of blood that lingered on him. The smell was intoxicating, and he wanted it all gone. Not a trace to exist for him, or his friends to pick up.

When he was done, he moved to change his clothes and moved over for his crime board. He wrote in Donovan's name and made a note how it was possible he hadn't been dead and walked out after he had left him. As he stepped back and looked at it, he took a minute to consider it, before shaking his head. No, Donovan was dead. His heart had stopped, and Stiles hadn't seen any...light left in his eyes. He then moved to make a new note, one that said he was dead, and then that someone took his body. He took a moment to realize that if that was true, someone else had to have been there. Someone saw what had happened. He then decided that he couldn't have that note written so plainly on the board for anyone to see. He found himself quickly moving to erase it. As he did, he caught a reflection of himself on the board. He looked savage to his own eyes. And there was a dark look in his eyes. He quickly threw his eraser at his reflection, making a jolt go through his body, right to where his arm had been hurt. His breathing started to get harder and his pulse began to quicken. He began to lean on the board as it was starting to get almost too hard to breathe. Stiles began to want nothing more than to just throw his board and begin lashing out and wrecking everything around him. But he was snapped out of this train of thought when his phone began ringing again. He took a moment to regain his breath before he looked to see who it was, thinking it might be Malia again. It wasn't Malia calling though. It was Scott.

"Scott?" he coughed out.

"Stiles, someone is taking the bodies," Scott said hurriedly back to him. That made Stiles freeze up as he had just thought and written that only a minute ago. "Stiles? You there?"

Stiles shook himself out of it. "Yeah, um...what are you talking about?"

"I'm at the animal clinic with Kira. Tracy's body is gone. The lock on the door was broken from the outside. And my mom just told me that Lucas' body went missing from the morgue. They've been searching the whole hospital for it. Someone is stealing the bodies."

Stiles turned and looked at the space where Donovan's name had just been. So, he had been right. Somebody had taken Donovan's body, and seemed to be taking the other chimeras too. But who? Where? Why?

* * *

In the woods, Jordan Parrish was slowly getting out of his van and moving over to the back where he opened the door to reveal Donovan's body. It was taken out and after he had it in his grasp, he began moving off, deeper into the woods. He was looking on ahead with unblinking eyes, moving steady and mechanically as if in a trance. He wasn't stopping as he kept walking, with his eyes letting out a [bright fiery orange glow](http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/tw_505_parrish_took_the_body.gif), being the only light of the dark.

* * *

The following morning, Liam found he was a bit worried about Lori as she and her brother seemed to have had some trouble during the attack at Sinema and wanted to see if they were alright. Everyone else was busy trying to look for any traces of the missing bodies so he decided to head to see them alone.

He made it to Satomi's place and found that her pack was gathered around the front in a semi-circle, and every one of them had sullen looks on their faces. The Alpha was in the middle of this circle and her head was down and Liam could make out that she was speaking Japanese very softly. Her tone was soft and light, but Liam could feel the sadness and grief coming out of her. Coming out of everyone. He quickly found Brett and Lori off to the side and they looked sadder than he had ever seen them.

Liam waited until it seemed like Satomi dismissed the pack and they started to slowly disperse themselves. Some of them gave Liam a small nod as they saw or passed him as he headed over to Brett and Lori.

Brett lifted his face up to look at him as he made his way over. "Hey Liam," he said dryly. "What are you doing here?"

Liam saw that it wasn't with his usual, annoying dryness. Brett was really depressed. "I was worried about you guys. I mean, after what last night, I wanted to come and see if you two were alright."

"Far from it," Brett mumbled.

"Why? Did something happen?"

"I'm sorry." Lori let out a small sniffle as she moved to head into the house.

Her brother watched her go sadly while Liam grew more worried and concerned about what had happened. He then looked around and noticed that there was a member of the pack missing. "Where's Wilson?"

When Brett turned to catch Liam's eye, the grief that Brett was feeling increased tenfold. Liam knew what the answer was before Brett could even tell him.

A few minutes later, Liam found himself standing right outside Lori's room. The door was open and he could see that Lori was sitting at her desk, crying. Of course, she would be crying. Wilson, a man that both she and Brett saw not just as their pack's Second but as a big brother had been killed. They had all felt when he had been killed the previous night, which explained what happened with them during Lucas' attack. Liam sighed and moved to softly knock on the door. That made her look up and quickly wipe at her eyes.

"Sorry," she said in a cracked voice as she stood up.

He didn't give Lori a chance to say anything else as he moved to wrap his arms around her and pull her into a tight hug. As he held her, Lori moved to rest her head in his shoulder and resumed her crying. Liam moved his hand up and down her back, as well as tightening her hold on him while she squeezed back.

Liam looked over and saw that there was a photo on the bed where Lori had laid. He saw that it was of her and her brother, both a few years younger, with Wilson behind them. They all smiling as Wilson had his arms wrapped around them both. He would make sure that he helped them find out who did this and make them pay.

* * *

Lydia was happy to be out of the hospital and back at school that Monday. Her mother had suggested that she take a few more days to rest but she had enough of rest. She quickly met up with Malia and she showed her the book she found at Tracy's house.

"The Dread Doctors, by T.R. McCammon," she read aloud.

Lydia suddenly stopped as she tilted her head, studying the image on the cover.

"What?" Malia asked out in concern.

"I don't know. There's something about it," she said, slowly starting to walk again. "Has anyone actually read it yet?"

"Well, there's me and I showed it to my dad too. Neither of us could understand any of it."

Malia would admit that she wasn't the best reader around, but this story was hard to follow. Her father told her that it seemed hard for him to keep reading as he found his attention drifting off around a few parts.

"Well, we should probably all read it," suggested Lydia.

Malia nodded. "Kira's working on it. I showed it to Stiles the other day, but he says that he can't find anything on the author because it's a pen name."

Lydia then began to read the plot summary aloud.

"In a small New England town, teenagers are taken in the night and buried alive. Days later, they emerge transformed, wreaking havoc and spreading terror, commanded by an ancient order of parascientists known only as the Dread Doctors." She took a moment to swallow nervously. "Sounds vaguely familiar. How does it end?"

"It doesn't. This is supposed to be volume one."

"Oh, let me guess, there is no volume two?" asked Lydia, rolling her eyes.

"Uh, I think we're living volume two," she put in a bit fearfully.

"Then maybe the real question is, is this a novel or someone's prediction?"

* * *

Over in the library, Kira was over at the photocopier, making multiple copies of the book's pages and organizing them to give out to everyone. As she finished with the last one, Scott came up to her.

"Done?" he asked.

"Done," she nodded.

As she left the machine, the librarian came over and threw Kira a short and annoyed look. She then moved to put a sign on the machine indicating that it was out of ink.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized before she walked off with Scott.

"I don't think the Dread Doctors are the ones stealing the bodies," he told her.

"Are we really calling them that?" Kira looked around nervously, hoping they weren't being eavesdropped on.

Scott kept going like she hadn't said anything. "Think about it. They killed Tracy and walked away. They killed Lucas and walked away. Why would they leave and come back to take the bodies?"

"Someone else has to be taking them."

Scott narrowed his eyes. "But the bodies aren't just bodies. They're...failures."

"So, if the chimeras are all failures, what's the success going to be?"

Scott dreaded to find out, pun not intended. "Bad. Probably really bad."

They made it to the door but Scott just stopped. He looked back out at the library with a troubled look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Kira asked him.

"I thought I smelled blood." Yet, everything in the library seemed normal. There was nothing to show that anything was happening. He then shook his head. "Forget it. Must've imagined it."

But Scott hadn't imagined it. He had smelled some leftover blood from the previous night. A student had pulled out a book from a shelf and had disturbed a collection of coagulated blood left over from Stiles' trap. The student didn't even seem to notice it either.

Scott and Kira then left and went to look for Theo so they could update him on what was happening. They found him and the three went to the boy's locker room where they knew they could be alone for a little while. There, they went and gave him a copy of the book right before they told him of everything that had happened after the attack at the station by Tracy.

Theo was attentive and acted as if everything they were telling him was all news to him. Scott didn't blink or seem to feel anything wrong with him at all and Theo found he wasn't trying as hard as he would have if it had been Stiles with him instead of Kira.

"Sorry but I'd never even heard of the Kanima until a few days ago," he calmly told them after they had finished explaining. He then looked at the stack of papers in his hand. "You want me to read this?"

Scott shook his head. "Well, not yet. I'm still only on chapter one."

"[You guys do this a lot, huh?](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AcrobaticFoolhardyBull-size_restricted.gif)" he asked him.

Scott blinked. "Do what?"

"Get involved."

Scott then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

As Scott took a moment to think about it, he thought that was all he and his friends ever seem to do, get involved with whatever trouble came around in this town. Ever since that night that he and Stiles had gone to the woods. A part of him wasn't too sure how he felt about that right now. And he also wasn't sure that he wanted to keep doing it.

"What about the author?" Theo asked, putting Scott's mind back on track. "I mean, if he knew all about these guys then should we be talking to him?"

"Yeah, we thought about that, but it's pretty much a dead end."

Theo nodded before he started flipping through the pages. He suddenly stopped at the end. "What about this guy?"

Scott looked over and saw that Theo was at the book's Acknowledgements page. His eyes widened at the name that was there. He then showed it to Kira and her eyes widened too. Scott began to read it aloud.

"For providing scientific perspective and invaluable insight this book is dedicated to Gabriel Valack."

"You know him?" Theo asked.

"Yeah, and I know where to find him."

* * *

During his free period, Stiles had found himself walking into the library. He couldn't help but find it ludicrous that there were kids moving around, at ease, where Donovan tried to kill him less than 12 hours ago. He looked down at the floor and found that there was a small crack in the spot where the pole dug into when Donovan had been impaled.

The construction worker at the scaffold was looking a little perplexed at a dent in one of the support bars in middle of the structure. "What the hell happened here?" he muttered almost to himself.

Stiles had a flash of himself leaping at Donovan and launching him at that spot with all his strength. So much strength that it caused the poles on the top to fall and one to impale him. He then looked over to see that there was still a small crack on the floor from where the pole had imbedded itself to the floor. His eyes then went up and he could see Donovan with the pole still in him, staring hard at him. Stiles kept his gaze on him before he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Ahh," he jumped before he calmed down when he saw that it was Liam.

He quickly stepped back and held up his hands. "Sorry," he quickly apologized.

But Stiles shook his head. "No, it's okay. What's up Liam?"

Liam's expression was sullen. "I tried to call you all weekend."

"Yeah, I was out trying to look for those Dread Doctors. Why?"

"Something's happened."

Stiles realized that there was sadness and grief all over Liam, both from him and others. He then tensed up.

"What?"

* * *

After school, Theo immediately went to the Doctors' lair to give them the latest report. The three of them seemed to have been waiting for him when he arrived.

"The book worked. And now, they're going to see Valack. They're going tonight."

"[To Eichen](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4I2MKW3OAEw/Va9r4wvcoLI/AAAAAAAAAVA/lsR_iCzEibw/s1600/teen%2Bwolf%2B5x05%2B9.gif)," the Surgeon grumbled though his mask.

He then went to give the subject in his cryotube a look, as if to silently tell him that their plan was working. He then looked over at the work bench, where the small vial of blood collected at the school was sitting. It seemed that the experiments he wanted to conduct with it would have to wait. But perhaps there might be an opportunity to procure even more, tonight.

* * *

Henry Tate was chopping and lining up blocks of wood outside his house. The sun was starting to dim so he wanted to get this all done before night fell. He knew that Malia was going to be out working on her schoolwork. At least, that's what she told him. There was a chance that she, and her friends, were going to be out trying to dig up more about these so-called Dread Doctors. Most likely by reading that book Malia showed him. He let a small shiver loose when the thought of that book came back to him. As a teen, he loved watching and reading horror stories, but the story of that book was far from enjoyable or interesting. He was barely able to get to the fourth chapter before he found he couldn't read anymore. Yet, he felt disturbed as soon as he stopped.

He went and brought his axe down on another block of wood and rose his head up to take a breath when he froze. In the trees, he could make out a pair of glowing blue eyes trying to hide in the brush.

"Malia?" he called out. But the eyes weren't moving.

When there was no answer, he moved for them but heard the sound of a car horn and looked over to see that there was a sedan in front of his house. Not just any sedan, but his family's old one. The driver's seat window was down, and he saw that his late wife was waving bye at him as she was beginning to drive off, and he could make out two little girls in the back seat. He looked back to the brush and saw that the eyes seemed to be following the car.

"Wait!" Henry cried out as he tried to go after the car.

But the car was gone, and so were the eyes. He blinked his eyes rapidly and found that there was no sign of car or that anything had been hiding in the brush.

"What was that?" he mumbled to himself.

* * *

"There's no discussion Lydia, I'm going," Stiles said stiffly.

"Stiles, you should stay and try and get some sleep. You're tired," Lydia said back to him.

They were both in Stiles' bedroom where they were arguing about her plan to go Eichen House to question Valack with Scott and Kira. Stiles didn't want them to go alone as Valack had a freakish third eye drilled into his forehead. Lydia knew that the place held bad memories and feelings for Stiles after his possession. Hell, it held bad memories for her too when she had been held hostage by that maniac orderly Brunski over six months ago.

Stiles narrowed his at her. "I'm fine," he said before throwing a shirt on over his T-shirt.

"Stiles, something has been bothering you all day and I know what it is," she said, making him stop and stare at her.

Stiles got scared. Did Lydia know? Could she know about what happened with him and Donovan? She was a banshee. She probably felt or sensed his death around him or at school.

"Wilson," she said to him. "I didn't know him very well, but I knew that you did. And so did Liam. He's upset about him too."

Stiles let a deep sigh out. While he was feeling a bit relieved that Lydia wasn't talking about Donovan, he couldn't help but get upset when the news of Wilson's death came back to him. That was what Liam had wanted to talk to him about at school today. Apparently, he had been killed Friday night, just one day after the two of them had their little talk together in the woods.

"Yeah, I know. He told me that he was going to stay with them tonight," he muttered out.

"And they still don't know who killed him?"

Stiles stiffened inwardly again. He knew perfectly well who killed Wilson. Donovan had told him that he had eaten another werewolf when he attacked him and Stiles remembered the scent of blood and flesh in his breath. He put the pieces together and realized that Donovan had killed Wilson, but he couldn't say how and why he knew that. Not without telling everyone what had happened.

"No," he said.

"Maybe I could help," she suggested. After all, she did something similar for Araya with her abilities back in Mexico.

"Yeah, maybe," mumbled Stiles. "And anyway, I'm still going. Remember what happened when Deaton paid Valack a visit?" The man had almost gone into a coma.

"We'll be fine," Lydia told him. "You don't have to come. Malia isn't going either."

"Yeah, she isn't going because Malia knows that place is a nightmare asylum full of insanity and death. Okay."

Stiles grabbed for his sweater and furiously threw it on over his shoulders and winced as he felt a sharp sting from the back of his left shoulder. The skin from wound had nearly all come back. He guessed that healing from cuts and gunshots were different than healing from having a part of you get torn and eaten by a shapeshifting cannibal. The last two days his skin back had begun regenerating slowly and there was still some residual pain from if he stressed his shoulder. He had been careful to hide it all weekend, but Lydia had just noticed.

"What was that?" she asked him.

Stiles moved to finish pulling his sweater on. "What was what?" he asked, trying not to sound defensive.

"You winced."

"Just a stiff elbow," he shrugged.

"It was your shoulder."

"Pain radiates Lydia."

"Pain? You just said it was a stiff shoulder."

"Pain, aches, stiffness, it's all the same thing. Let's just go," he barked harshly at her. That made her stiffen up and he closed his eyes as he tried to settle himself down. It wasn't right to bite Lydia's head off when she was just trying to show concern for him. "Sorry...it just hasn't been a good time lately," he apologized.

"Right," she mumbled.

Lydia visibly gave in and Stiles moved to head out. As Stiles passed her, Lydia's eyes glazed over as she heard what sounded like a distant but hard, wolfish growl. She then looked down and saw that there were bloody wolf paw prints, and they led out in the direction that Stiles just walked out the room in. She just stared until she heard Stiles call out her name from downstairs and ask if she was coming or not. She blinked and the bloody paw prints were gone. She then called out that she was on her way and moved to leave the room herself.

* * *

Scott and Kira were looking around his room for her missing belt. She wasn't going to a madhouse like Eichen House without it.

"I don't see it anywhere," Scott said as he moved some things around on the floor.

Kira was checking the bed. "I left it here. I know I did. I woke up and you said, "Don't forget your belt"."

"Are you sure? I don't remember saying that."

"You don't remember saying a lot of things," she mumbled. Her thoughts on what Scott had said to her at Sinema. That he loved her.

Scott looked over at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means...nothing," she said shaking her head. "Forget it."

She then moved to throw herself on his bed and he bent down to face her. He can smell the anxiety and fear starting to bubble up inside of her.

"You okay?" he asked her in concern.

"Can you do me a favor? Can you look at me with your eyes?"

He smiled. "I am," he tried to remind her.

But Kira didn't smile back. "I mean your other eyes. Just...tell me what you see."

Scott's face fell. Kira wanted him to see her aura. Scott stood up and Kira moved to stand a few paces away. He focused and let his eyes shift and looked over at Kira. He saw her inner fox. It looked different from what he remembered. Before, it looked so nimble and elegant. But now, it seemed bigger and…wilder. He averted his eyes down and then noticed her belt on the floor.

"What?" Kira said, noticing how he looked away. "Did you see something?"

Scott bit back a swallow. "Yeah, I found your belt." He then moved to pick it up and hand it to her. "Everything else is fine," he told her. "Ready?"

She strapped her belt on and then nodded. He then moved to leave the room, his expression turning to one of concern and worry as soon as his back faced Kira.

* * *

Virgil went and slammed his fist into his work locker. His boss just asked him to work late and alone, Again, and said that it wouldn't be for overtime, AGAIN. Needless to say, Virgil was pissed. He tried to remind his boss that he said he wouldn't do that again but the bastard feigned ignorance about it, though Virgil knew the man's memory was like a steel trap. He tried to say he would make it up to him with a full repair job, on the house, but Virgil already had that promise on the table but didn't bother reminding him because he would no doubt play ignorant, AGAIN. Virgil knew that the only reason he was offering that was because he knew that Virgil would never use it. He kept both his bike and his father's car in tip top shape. He was really getting sick and tired of dealing with this guy and his condescension with him. Always acting he was doing him a favor because he had a 'record'.

Thinking of that, Virgil only got angrier. That was always going to be hovering over him. And why? Because he was a good and loyal friend to a complete ass. He ripped off his jacket and threw into his locker harder than necessary. Then he went and rested his forehead against the cool metal and took a few deep, calming breaths. Try as he might, Virgil could never forget his former friend. Or what the guy had done to him. And who knew if Virgil ever was a stray thought in his head?

When he settled, Virgil went to pick his jacket up to hang it on the hook. As he lifted it up, one of his tarot cards fell out. His eyes narrowed when he saw it fell not upright or reversed, but perfectly horizontal to him.

"The Moon," he read after picking it up. "Means a time of illusion, deception and fear when upright. And means intuition, insomnia and release of mental blocks when reversed."

But the card was neither. His grandmother mentioned that sometimes she had unclear predictions with her cards. This could mean that everything was in flux and it could eventually land either way. Or, there were opposing forces at work at the same time. But was this omen for him, or for someone else in this town? Or...something?

* * *

"Hello? Anyone there?" Lydia asked as she hit the button on the gate intercom with Kira by her side.

Scott and Stiles were waiting off by the jeep and Scott's bike as they looked up at the building. Even after six months, this place still gave Stiles the creeps.

"You going to be okay in there?" Scott suddenly asked him.

Stiles blinked at him. "Yeah, why?"

"You just seem a little off."

Stiles fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, I think we're all a little off. Maybe some of us more than others." His eyes then went over to Kira, making Scott turn to look over at her too. "What happened?"

"When the other chimera, Lucas, when he came after us, I heard Kira say something in Japanese."

He shrugged. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"She doesn't know any Japanese," Scott pointed out.

"Still not terrible."

"I also think I might have stopped her from killing Lucas."

"Okay." Stiles then narrowed his eyes a bit. He heard about what happened at Sinema. Lucas had poisoned his own boyfriend Corey and then gone after Mason before attacking Liam, Brett and Lori. "But, wasn't he trying to kill everyone else though? I mean, that just sounds like self-defense."

"It was more than that. I mean, she nearly took off his head."

Stiles couldn't help but think of how Donovan had wanted to kill and eat him. Sure, he didn't plan for that stuff to fall and kill Donovan, but he found that he wasn't sorry it happened. The guy had wanted to eat him, and then go do the same to his father. Kira was trying to protect everyone like he was trying to protect his father.

"Well maybe she felt that she had no choice. Kira just wanted to keep everybody safe. There's got to be a point where self-defense is justified. Tracy, she killed her own father, therapist and near half dozen other people, including Malia. And Lucas would have killed you."

Scott narrowed his eyes a bit. "[They're not the bad guys. They're the victims.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/c623c0ae72ab8b14a6721dd7377e07f0/tumblr_nruhidbbQW1txs23jo4_250.gif) We shouldn't be killing people we're trying to save."

Stiles stiffened up. Victims. He called Tracy and Lucas victims. Called Donovan a victim. And what was Mr. Stewart? Those cops at the transport? The therapist? Lydia and her mom? Malia? Or Wilson? All of them were the real victims. Tracy, Lucas and Donovan chose to hurt and kill them all. And yet Scott was saying they weren't bad guys? Calling  _them_  the victims?! Stiles found himself clenching his hands into tight fists.

Scott felt a rise in tension and anxiety coming off from Stiles and heard the knuckles in his friends' hands crack as he tightly fisted them. "Stiles?"

He looked up to see that Stiles' eyes were shifted and found his eyes moving away from the sapphire gleam. Stiles grit his teeth when he saw Scott do that and he let out a frustrated grunt as he moved to throw himself into his jeep. He was relieved that it started up right away with no problem and moved to drive away without another word.

Lydia and Kira let their eyes follow after Stiles' jeep until it disappeared down the road before looking back at Scott.

"What just happened?" Kira asked him.

Scott shook his head. "I don't really know," he mumbled out as he kept staring out to where Stiles drove off. What was up with Stiles all of a sudden?

But none of them got much of a chance to dwell on it as they heard a buzz and the front gate became unlocked.

"Let's go. I'll call Jordan and ask for him to come by." She would need to find a new ride back.

The three of them then moved to make their way into Eichen House.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I hope you liked the fight between a werewolf Stiles and the chimera Donovan. I wanted it to feel like a real fight to the death, yet, still have it not be an intentional death blow from Stiles to end it. Also, how will it be now that Stiles isn't going to be in Eichen House? After all, he couldn't go see Valack now anyway due to the mountain ash, so I didn't want him to just be standing out with Scott and Kira. Besides, I have something else in mind for him to do with storming out.


End file.
